Philologos, or dear Brother Ron,You wrote regarding the promise and the mission of the Holy Spirit in John 16:13:
Their words would be inspired by the fulfillment of the earlier promise. This is the foundation of a conservative evangelical's understanding of 'verbal inspiration' of scripture. It is because of this promise to the apostles that the New Testament has final authority for the Bible believing Christian. The verse you quote is not a promise that the church, down the centuries, will have continuing revelation which is to be added to the biblical revelation, and it is not a personal promise of infallibility for every believer. It is a promise of infallibility for the apostles' doctrinal statements.
_________________Hans Prang
Dear Hans
am sorry Ron that we dont see eye to eye on the witness of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers in this great day of deception. I only hope that you will no longer equate my experience with God with psychology, for that is very painful to me. I love God and have made a commitment to serve Him, and He can do with me what He wants, as long as He gets the glory. I serve God and not men, therefore comparing the things I share to psychology are painful to me.
_________________Ron Bailey
But I am also aware that you are trying to move this discussion into your comfort zone - the written word. Whereas the testimony of Jesus Christ (the living Word) as it has been experienced by an individual believer (in this case, me), is as valid; the word is nigh me, even in my mouth.
Dear Philologos, I have not been following this thread through entirely, so I could be missing some things. I am not really seeking to debate or disagree with you, but better understand where you are coming from.
I have no ultimate terms of reference for my understanding of spiritual fact other than a divine and infallible revelation which i find in the scripture.
_________________Blake Kidney
Hi Ron,I believe I said 'the' testimony and 'the' word. What I've experienced of 'healing' - to use the term specifically to mean restoration towards normal health - can all be found in scripture, without any loss of doctrinal integrity.I had intended to lay it all out in one post, but that seems rather unweildy now I've thought through from start to finish, so I'd like to begin with a question, which picks up from one of your earlier posts.
I can see no Biblical evidence for the idea that a regenerate person can be indwelt by an evil entity while at the same time being indwelt by the Spirit of God.
What do you mean by this? Are you suggesting that the whole of your understanding of Christ and the Spirit comes from the bible only?
Whereas the testimony of Jesus Christ (the living Word) as it has been experienced by an individual believer (in this case, me), is as valid; the word is nigh me, even in my mouth.
Please could you show from scripture how an evil spirit could not be in the flesh of a person who has received the Holy Spirit?
Hi Ron,There must be a point at which one loses objectivity in order to believe. In the end, there is no denying that having the witness in oneself is a subjective experience. 1 John 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: So on what basis do you judge that another person's claim to 'have the witness in himself', is as valid as yours to have the witness in yourself?
philologos said
Please show me from scripture that this ever happened in the record of God's dealings with men.
brethreni've followed this discussion and found it to be most interesting. i feel led of the Lord to say something. in our reading of scripture, how much to we rely on Holy Spirit for interpretation? let us all go before God and ask that He show us this. i had a revelation from the Lord some time ago about scripture. it is brethed of God's Spirit and requires God's Spirit to interpret it and minister to us. in addition there is much more to scripture than what is on the surface, there are things between the written lines (for lack of a better expression) or deeper things in scripture which at first glance may appear to be non-biblical. Perhaps we should always be aware that there are things in scripture that the Lord hasn't revealed to us yet? this is not to say that everything "non-biblical" is of God but rather that what the Lord has revealed to bro X may not be known to bro Y, in short none of us know it all as it pertains to scripture. also i shared with another brother this same revelation and his response was interesting, surface reading of scripture produces superficial Christians/hypocrites. it's no wonder (for me anyway) that the church is as it is...perhaps we read too much on the surface and don't seek the deeper things of God?bro hans i can bear witness to much of your testimony, it seems that the Lord has made it such that we have more in common than i thought.
_________________Farai Bamu