Re: Spirit Led Christians
Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2017 7:02 pm
A little more thinking out loud, fwiw.
One area that has often perplexed me on this subject is many Christian beliefs. Things like Calvinist versus Arminian debates where both sides pray for and believe they receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Or right here on this forum with D&R, WIM, baptism, evangelism, etc, etc differences when all sides believe the truth that the HS leads us into is their understanding of the truth. Why did God not make scripture more black and white in it's meaning ? Doesn't this fly in the face of what Jesus so desired that we be one ? Didn't Jesus understand that when He said the HS being the Spirit of truth, the Spirit was not going to reveal one set of truths to all believers ? But thats where we sit and there seems to me to be more variations (i.e. open theism amongst evangelicals) continuing to add to the differences. Does that puzzle any of you when all of these beliefs are thought to be Spirit lead ?
So, if we can't get our beliefs about the scriptures in sync, how can we trust that our personal guidance by the Holy Spirit is clear in our practise ? How do these differences make Christians appear in the eyes of non-believers ? Yet most of us concede that God has His Church amongst all this confusion and it goes beyond any specific church organization. Perhaps what grieves the Holy Spirit the most is our confidence in what He has not revealed as truth. Seems to me like pride gets quite involved in what we see as truth more than humility.
Would like to hear how others explain how we can know the voice of the Spirit in daily living when we know that '"Spirit-led" folk have come up with the beliefs we hold to and yet they are not the same for all believers.
One area that has often perplexed me on this subject is many Christian beliefs. Things like Calvinist versus Arminian debates where both sides pray for and believe they receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Or right here on this forum with D&R, WIM, baptism, evangelism, etc, etc differences when all sides believe the truth that the HS leads us into is their understanding of the truth. Why did God not make scripture more black and white in it's meaning ? Doesn't this fly in the face of what Jesus so desired that we be one ? Didn't Jesus understand that when He said the HS being the Spirit of truth, the Spirit was not going to reveal one set of truths to all believers ? But thats where we sit and there seems to me to be more variations (i.e. open theism amongst evangelicals) continuing to add to the differences. Does that puzzle any of you when all of these beliefs are thought to be Spirit lead ?
So, if we can't get our beliefs about the scriptures in sync, how can we trust that our personal guidance by the Holy Spirit is clear in our practise ? How do these differences make Christians appear in the eyes of non-believers ? Yet most of us concede that God has His Church amongst all this confusion and it goes beyond any specific church organization. Perhaps what grieves the Holy Spirit the most is our confidence in what He has not revealed as truth. Seems to me like pride gets quite involved in what we see as truth more than humility.
Would like to hear how others explain how we can know the voice of the Spirit in daily living when we know that '"Spirit-led" folk have come up with the beliefs we hold to and yet they are not the same for all believers.