Bootstrap wrote:Sudsy wrote:He does speak to us as individuals and also collectively. Many examples of both of these are found in scripture and the individual directions are not always checked out through the brethren. He gives immediate direction at times where it is up to us to obey immediately.
However, it seems He is very tolerant of our mis-interpretations of His voice as we end up with all these factions in Christianity with varied practises that we all believe are Spirit guided. Some of these beliefs people follow from an individual leader, some from a group of believers. In both cases, they are not the same truths as those of other Christian leaders or groups. Group leadings sound to be more accurate yet they still differ from group to group. Just saying that if we were all lead by the Holy Spirit in the areas that really matter most to God, I would think on these we would agree.
I don't think our disagreements are generally about the things that really matter most to God.
Holiness, caring for the poor, justice, truly loving our neighbor, deeply trusting God, etc. are at the heart of our faith, most Christians agree on that, and we aren't as good at it as we should be. So we focus on easier things to show people how great we are - the best systematic theology, the most religious clothing, our own distinctive worship style - and we keep the focus on those things by treating them as proof that we are better than other Christians.
That's where we really need the Holy Spirit. Not to tell us who is right about these areas of disagreement.
This would be closest to how I view this understanding on the 'truth' directed by the Spirit. What is it that matters most to God. Some texts regarding what God sees that matters most.
Micah 6:6-8 includes; “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and
what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” (underlining mine)
And again in James 4:10 - “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
I think there can be good intentions on why Christian practise is covenanted to follow as a group and not all of it is based on the ego (our church has the right practise as a believer) but it can be majoring on things Jesus did not point to as most important and He was pretty direct with the religious people in His day. What did Jesus tell them on what are 'more important matters' -
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected
the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. (underlining mine).
Then in the same Mathew 23 text He talks much about the ego issues in the Pharisee practise and their hypocrisy telling them they lacked humility, again what is important to God - "For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." God hates pride and resist the proud and gives His grace to the humble.
So, in these few examples it is in loving our neighbours as ourselves and showing mercy (as Jesus describes elsewhere like in the good Samaritan story), being faithful in our practise, walking humbly before God and many other areas we see in Mathew 23. Perhaps if we could see our practise from an unchurched person's viewpoint, it would be easier to see that what Jesus considered as light shining are the things we need to change and focus on to draw people to follow Jesus.