Many Christians on here have said the Holy Spirit guides them as they read God's word. Then why do Christians disagree about KEY issues of doctrine? If the Word is clear then are you telling me the Holy Spirit is telling believers different things? Who is right?
2007-09-10 15:43:32 · 34 answers · asked by Veritas 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Jesus Christ told the leaders of one Church - the Church He personally founded upon the Apostles - "whatsoever you bind upon earth is bound in heaven"; "he who listens to you listens to Me"; "the Holy Spirit will guide you to all truth". The Bible refers to this one Church as "the pillar and foundation of truth" a powerful and obvious analogy that means the truth cannot stand apart from this one Church. The doctrinal chaos of manmade denominational churches clearly demonstrates the truth of this biblical teaching.
Which Church is right? Obviously The Pillar and Foundation of Truth, the one Church with a divine guarantee of truth, the one Church that has not fragmented into thousands of conflicting denominations, but has taught the fullness of truth in unity for 2,000 years. We can easily identify that one true Church by looking at history. The only Christian Church that existed for more than a thousand years after the resurrection. The Holy Catholic Church. The measure of any other church's teaching is the extent to which it adheres to Catholic teaching.
2007-09-10 16:14:33 · answer #1 · answered by PaulCyp 7 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Obviously, they believed the Holy Spirit was telling them, but the Holy Spirit does not say anything that goes against what God's Word says. If they say, "the Holy Spirit told me this", it wasn't the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit doesn't speak in audible words. Why would the Holy Spirit tell you something when the Bible has already been completed? That is adding and the Holy Spirit can't do that. Going along with that, the Holy Spirit can't tell anyone anything beyond the completed written word (the Bible). Otherwise, the Bible is not complete. But we know it is complete and it is the Holy Spirit Who guided the 40 men what to write that make up the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-All Scripture is God-breathed...). The Holy Spirit guides you into all truth which is only found in the Bible. But it isn't done through audible words. And the Holy Spirit wouldn't guide you about say, salvation, and then guide someone else with a totally different message about the same thing. Because God is not the author of confusion. The Holy Spirit doesn't tell believers different things. Only God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is right. "Let God be true and every man a liar" (found in Romans). Compared to God, we are not right like we think we are. Only God has perfect truth.
It us who need God to teach us (through His Word).
A lot of what happens is that "Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." (2 Timothy 4:3) and "But there also false prophets among the people, just as there will be many false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Sovereign Lord Who bought them-bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute." (2 Peter 2:1-2) and
"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world." (1 John 4:1)
So, it is not the Holy Spirit guiding (or what people would say telling) us something that is not already in the Word. Also, if the Holy Spirit could speak to believers in audible words, why would some people hear the Holy Spirit speak and not others who are just as faithful if not more? The Holy Spirit just guides Christians into what the Word means but not in audible words (Hebrews 1:1).
2007-09-10 16:15:32 · answer #2 · answered by littlefirefly444 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Listen "Truth". Probably fewer than you think.
We have a bible and every word has been studied. A basic Protestantism belief is that the bible is the sole authority. Some (like myself) believe that the bible interrupts itself.
Now lets talk about the Holy Spirit. No where does it say that the Holy Spirit is a book mark.
As for doctrine issues, the bible is the sole source. If you claim that something is available and it isn't, then you have misread the book.
Answer: The questions you ask are found in the book, but like traveling, you may need a map.
2007-09-10 16:00:12 · answer #3 · answered by J. 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Thank you, Verita. Excellant question.
I noticed one of the responders said that all born-agains believe in the essentials. Is that so? Then why do some believe that baptism forgives sins and others do not? Why do some believe in the Holy Trinity while others don't? Aren't these the essentials they're all supposed to agree on?
They all read the same bible but come away with different interpretations and doctrines. Are we to believe that the Holy Spirit teaches them different things yet all are somehow right as they each claim?
2007-09-10 16:54:26 · answer #4 · answered by Danny H 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The perfect example of the Teaching Church and its binding authority at work is seen in the book of Acts at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:6-30). In the Jerusalem Council, we see Peter and James speaking with authority. This council makes an authoritative pronouncement (citing the Holy Spirit) which was binding on all Christians:
Acts 15:28-29: For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity.
In the next chapter, we read that Paul, Timothy, and Silas were traveling around “through the cities,” and Scripture says that:
… As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions which had been reached by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem. (Acts 16:4)
This is Church authority. They, the Church leaders, simply proclaimed the decree as true and binding – with the sanction of the Holy Spirit Himself! And this is exactly how Jesus taught the disciples in resolving disputes found in Matt 18:15-17 that:
"If your brother sins against you, go to him and show him his fault. But do it privately, just between yourselves. If he listens to you, you have won your brother back. But if he will not listen to you, take one or two other persons with you, so that 'every accusation may be upheld by the testimony of two or more witnesses,' as the scripture says. And if he will not listen to them, then tell the whole thing to the church. Finally, if he will not listen to the church, treat him as though he were a pagan or a tax collector.”
Many will tell you that the church being spoken of here is the local church. Yet how can that single church have any binding authority if all one has to do is go to a different denomination or to simply start himself one with his own differing belief? That’s exactly what happening today with our 30,000 plus denominations in existence. This is tantamount to not having any authority at all. We need a church which has a binding authority for all Christians. One where we know will tell THE Truth and not just a truth of their own interpretation. And this visible church must be the one that Jesus founded Himself on the rock that is Peter.
God Bless
Robin
2007-09-11 00:46:33 · answer #5 · answered by Robin 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am a Christian and I would never say that the Holy Spirit showed "me" what a passage in the Bible means. You have to study the Bible, not "feel" it.
The reason so many denominations differ over certain doctrines is because we are human and therefore very flawed. The Holy Spirit is not the author of confusion...we don't need any help being confused.
Place your faith in people and they will always let you down, but God never will.
2007-09-10 15:54:40 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
The truth of the matter is that the Bible is written for each of us and each person will have a different meaning that they draw from the text. There are some obvious ones that most would not disagree on, but then there are some that most do, it is all based on the interpretation provided to that person, if they studied its history and also the study of the author. It is important to realize that God has a message, that message is love for us who wish and choose to follow Him. That is the utmost important message. That is the truth in the Bible and those who read otherwise are in deception.
God bless you and yours always, and please keep us filled in on the twin situation, I pray for you and yours during this time.
2007-09-11 01:54:42 · answer #7 · answered by Perhaps I love you more 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A comment for sisterzeal2: I'm going to take your response to mean that you're Protestant, in other words, not Catholic. This is fine as far as I'm concerned because you should seek him out in the way that is right for you. But, you ask at the end of your comment if something was removed from the bible. Viewing your response as a whole, you are afraid of the Catholic church (although, for whatever reason, you didn't actually say so) because of something that you have likely read recently (although what you read was not actually new and taken out of context). All this said, let me point out that Catholics didn't remove any books or scripture form the bible. Books were removed by Protestants, thus the commencement of the Protestant movement.
Please don't take this comment as an attack on Protestants; they too are my brothers and sisters in Christ and, God willing, I expect to see you on the other side.
2007-09-10 17:05:38 · answer #8 · answered by CUrias 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Church is the Assembly of Believers.
On the Rock of Peter the assembly of believers was built and that assembly needs no leader but God.
Anyone who claims that the assembly of believers needs a person in charge is spreading false a false doctrine of men.
Peter is the foundation, not the head or the roof or anything else. Any person claiming to have inherited being the "top" from the "bottom" is using very flawed logic.
The answer to your question is pretty simple.
People have different ideas. Some people are more open minded than others. Some people believe more in one thing than another. None of us are fully directed by God, we all trust in our own decisions sometimes.
When we work together God has to find a way to put ideas we can accept into our hearts. We exchange those ideas with other believers and work to achieve a consensus in Christ that allows the Holy Spirit to guide our very flawed beings in the right direction.
Sometimes people preach things that are anti-Biblical, "God thinks abortion is murder" or "Anyone not married in a Church by a Preacher is not married". One of my "favorite" non Biblical sayings is "Power in the Name of Jes-us", there is power in the name all right, but, Jesus was not Christ's name.
These are doctrines of people, not Biblical and not Holy Spirit driven.
To know if something is driven by the Holy Spirit, compare it to scripture. If you find it in scripture and from the Holy Spirit you know it is right. The Holy Spirit will not contradict scripture just as scripture does not contradict itself or reality.
2007-09-10 16:02:48 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 3⤋
I enjoy hearing people's views and it fine with me. Myself, I feel when I first started reading the Bible I read about the people in the Bible. What they did and how they also had sin in their lives. Then one day I was reading and things changed. I started seeing things in my life and my sins. Maybe it was the Holy Spirit. Maybe it was the Beer. But, regardless of what it was I read John 5:39-40 and my Doctrine became Christ Jesus. Really not care what others believe, but, I enjoy hearing their views.
2007-09-10 15:55:00 · answer #10 · answered by Snaglefritz 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋