How can........?

Question

1. How can the Holy Spirit tell the Lutherans the Eucharist is the true presence of Christ, and then tell the Baptists it is only a symbol?

2. How can the Holy Spirit tell the Methodists it is alright to have female ministers, and then tell the Baptists it is unbiblical?

3. How can the Holy Spirit tell the Seventh Day Adventists that Saturday is the day of worship, and then tell the Presbyterians the day of worship is Sunday and not Saturday?

4. How can the Holy Spirit tell the Lutherans that the Blessed Virgin Mary was and remains always virgin, and then tell the Baptists she had other children?

5. How can the Holy Spirit tell the Baptists, 'once saved always saved', and then tell the Church of Christ that Sola Fides is unscriptural?

6. How can the Holy Spirit tell Episcopalians to baptize infants and then tell Pentecostals infant baptism is invalid?

7. How can the Holy Spirit tell Mormons that the Holy Trinity is three separate persons, and then tell Methodists the Trinity is three persons in one GOD?

Answer 1

Because it is not the Holy Spirit that tells all of these things. The Bible does not support all of these teachings when it is handled correctly. (2 Timothy 2:15)

If you want to know what is true, search the Scriptures. It is through the Bible that the Holy Spirit tells us what is true.

Notice Acts 17:11, "These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."

That is what we should do! Receive teaching with a ready mind (an open mind ready to learn), and search the scriptures every day to see if the things we have been taught are true!

If a doctrine is scriptural, accept it. If it does not agree with the Bible, reject it!

Answer 2

I don't think it's God telling them anything... I think that men have a way of taking what is said and misinterpreting it. I don't think any religion or denomination has it completely right. If we did, we'd be God. The Bible is sort of like the Constitution. It was written a long time ago by some old guys, and these old guys listened to God and wrote down what he said, but you have to understand that 1) They probably had a few of their own ideas mixed in and 2) It was written in the way the Constitution was, that is, it was written vaguely so as to be useful for centuries without updates. People have the innate ability to twist someone's words, especially vague ones that often contradict one another. The point is that you believe in God. What you do after that is man-made.

Answer 3

Everything comes down to interpretation... this pastor thinks this and that minister thinks that. That is why there are SO many religions...

On your question #7 - I am Mormon. We believe the Godhead consists of three distinct person's and there are several biblical references where this is evidenced. When Christ is baptized, He himself is there, a voice was heard from the heavens saying "this is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" that was God the Father and then onlookers visually saw the Holy Ghost descending upon Christ in the form of a dove.
Also, we know Jesus Christ and God the Father are separate beings because of revelation and because Joseph Smith personally saw them as they spoke to him on restoring the gospel.

Answer 4

You are confusing...more than likely on purpose...the doctrines of man as opposed to the doctrine of the Spirit brought to you by the Word of God...

If a Church/Faith system has any truth at all...it comes from the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit to rightly divide.

Matthew 15:9 (King James Version)
9But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Answer 5

You have brought up several interesting questions. I was raised Catholic, became agnostic during college, then went to a Pentecostal church from 1999-2001, then back to Catholic from 2002 to the present. I needed to go to a church like the Pentecostal church in order to learn about Christianity, the Bible, evil caused by the free will of man and a loving, caring God because what I grew up with in Catholicism was distant, cold, and chastising and I was taught that God was punishing and vengeful and I blamed him for the horrible things in my life. By going to the Pentecostal Church I learned (from reading on my own as well as from the church) about how the early Church functioned, etc. I returned to Catholicism purely because through my research I do believe that it is the Church founded by the apostles and where we should all be.

HOWEVER, my husband was raised Catholic as well but can just not seem to stay motivated to attend Mass because he feels that as a recovering alcoholic and addict, he is not getting "spiritually fed" even though I have told him that the Mass is not meant to entertain. Because my marriage is very important to me and therefore so is my husband's sobriety, I have agreed to accompany him to whatever services he feels are going to keep him motivated and give him what he needs. So we have stopped attending Mass and started attending services at a non-denominational church, where the pastors do not care about where you came from and only read from the Bible and leave the interpretation up to you. It is called a "full-Gospel church" and they do not belong to any denomination. They do not tell you how to interpret it at all, what to do, wear, think, act, etc. It is up to you. The whole focus of the church is that Christianity is about a personal relationship with God and not about doctrines, rules, or one pastor's interpretation. I am still Catholic and consider myself as such.

Interestingly, 90% of the people there were raised Catholic, and both the pastor and assistant pastor are Italian like us and were raised Catholic. To be honest, I have been in many churches and have never seen as many people pack a Sunday service as I do there.

So to answer ALL of your questions, I think that all of these splits and denominations are ridiculous and if you are a Christian you should just focus on a personal relationship with Christ and congregate for the purpose of fellowship, not to have regulations and one persons beliefs imposed in you.

Answer 6

1-5: these are man made details that are utterly irrelevant, and thus whichever way they chose to structure it, makes no difference, that these are in essence personal preferences that simply don't actually matter.

6) baptism of infants doesn't really mean anything to begin with. one side adds "personal preference" of invented meaning to one, the other doesn't, halfway in the first group, but slightly different.

7) two entirely different God Concepts. according to the old testament, the 10 commandments, and Jewish belief, both are polytheistic anyway, its a slightly different distinction of polytheism, but ultimately it boils down to simply seeing God in different ways, neither *entirely* invalid, but neither *entirely* perfect either. (no single religion has it "entirely perfect, per se, merely not-incorrect and open ended in the right direction)

its all really quite simple.

Answer 7

Oh, I love these questions. I'm going to cut and paste these onto my PC wallpaper.

PS: I love the one answer: "You're confusing...on purpose"
Ow! That's the sound of christians trying to think....

Answer 8

Because it is made up.

Answer 9

CONFUSION#####