Sudsy wrote:Bootstrap wrote:Yeah, it's hard for me to believe that Calvinism vs. Arminianism debates demonstrate that someone is led by the Spirit ...
I will drop talking about my example of how the Holy Spirit is said to be leading us into all truth - John 16:13. To me, this demonstrates that we can say we are Spirit led in our interpretations and yet be quite opposites in how God operates in the world in saving people. I view being led by the Spirit to not only giving us direction in the way that we should go but also about what we should believe about God.
In John 16:13, I don't think that "all truth" means "the answer to every question Christians fight about". The favorite verses of a lot of Christians seem to be "They will know we are Christians by our doctrine" and "I came that you might all be right". But when you look at what the Bible tells us about the Holy Spirit and truth, it generally is not the kind of religious doctrine or religious practice that we focus on in our religious arguments.
Here's one way you can tell if someone is led by the Holy Spirit:
Galatians 5 wrote:I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I tell you about these things in advance—as I told you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit. We must not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Here's another passage that helps us know if we are led by the Holy Spirit:
1 John 3 wrote:This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need but closes his eyes to his need—how can God’s love reside in him?
Little children, we must not love with word or speech, but with truth and action. This is how we will know we belong to the truth and will convince our conscience in His presence, even if our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience, and He knows all things.
Dear friends, if our conscience doesn’t condemn us, we have confidence before God and can receive whatever we ask from Him because we keep His commands and do what is pleasing in His sight. Now this is His command: that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commands remains in Him, and He in him. And the way we know that He remains in us is from the Spirit He has given us.
We do need some doctrine, enough to know Jesus and come to live in his love:
1 John 4 wrote:This is how we know that we remain in Him and He in us: He has given assurance to us from His Spirit. And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent His Son as the world’s Savior. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God—God remains in him and he in God. And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, for we are as He is in this world. There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because He first loved us.