What does it mean when the holy spirit guides you as you read the Bible?

[Hestha]

That is wonderful. Yes, the Bible is full of truth, so yes, you can find the truth without the Holy Spirit’s help, but how are you sure it is the truth?

Actually, I do not find truth within the Bible. I just want to know what it says, so that it may be help me understand literature and the English language better. The English language, I realize, is saturated with Christian or Biblical references, and they are usually hard to identify if one is not knowledgeable about the Bible or Christianity. When I read the Bible, I try to read it without bias. I practiced reading and summarizing news articles in my introductory Biology classes, and I continue this practice to everything I read - including the Bible - so that I can read things without bias. The summary must be based on the text, not elsewhere (unless you are trying to suggest that the Holy Spirit is embedded in the text, completely unmentioned). The point is to examine how things are worded and what things mean; those two things can help me summarize chapters in the Bible, so that I know what the chapter is about and refer to it later. It isn't perfect, so my knowledge about Christianity and the Bible is quite limited, and I only know how to read English and Spanish, not koine Greek or Hebrew. I just want to summarize the author's words, not analyze and intepret the author's words and apply them to my personal life, because that's the only thing I can do. Analyzing and intepreting require some thought and experience; just summarizing requires the ability to understand what Scripture actually says and rephrase it in my own words, but do so concisely and precisely to the best of my ability.

If you are a hell bound non-believer there is no reason for you to “Love” God or like what He has left recorded for us. God is not trying to “sell” you on some book or group of ideas. God is wanting to help the non-believer with his/her problems especially the burden past actions that have hurt others.

So, what if your life is already perfect and you don't need any help?

So far you have fallen far short of every exegesis you have attempted.. But if it makes you feel superior, and you need to comfort yourself in such away, then you may tell yourself and your friends whatever you like. (your going to anyway) Just know that if and when you get ready to know God you will need the Holy Spirit to help you decern what you have attempted and failed doing on your own.

Actually, I was just trying to summarize and move on; I didn't intend to mean analyze and critically interpret the text. I am aware that my summary isn't perfect, because I can't read the original koine Greek or Hebrew. I just summarize what the English translation tells me. Because my summaries are based on English translations during my readings, I am not going to brag that I know the Bible, because I don't. I don't want to claim false knowledge. I may also want to know who this "Holy Spirit" is and exactly how the "Holy Spirit" can help me. What is it - a new reading style or something? Do you have a method that is workable and that you think is better than mine? I think suggesting an unspiritual person to be spiritual is not going to work. Am I supposed to imagine that there is Spirit watching me or what?

 

[drich0150]

Actually, I was just trying to summarize and move on; I didn't intend to mean analyze and critically interpret the text. I am aware that my summary isn't perfect, because I can't read the original koine Greek or Hebrew. I just summarize what the English translation tells me. Because my summaries are based on English translations during my readings, I am not going to brag that I know the Bible, because I don't. I don't want to claim false knowledge. I may also want to know who this "Holy Spirit" is and exactly how the "Holy Spirit" can help me. What is it - a new reading style or something? Do you have a method that is workable and that you think is better than mine? I think suggesting an unspiritual person to be spiritual is not going to work. Am I supposed to imagine that there is Spirit watching me or what?

Understand, the word God is a title and not one specific deity's name. This title is shared by three seperate deities. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit is just as Much 'God' as the Father or Son. Where the Holy Spirit differs is that it is the personage of God who's task is to deal directly to, and through you as a servant of God. If you want a measure of the holy Spirit or rather if you want to be intrusted with a small measure of the Holy Spirit then lets look at the bible and see what it takes to obtain apart of the Holy Spirit to dewell with in you. Turn to Luke 11 (this passage does not need any special consideration)

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you went to your friend’s house very late at night and said to him, ‘A friend of mine has come into town to visit me. But I have nothing for him to eat. Please give me three loaves of bread.’ 7 Your friend inside the house answers, ‘Go away! Don’t bother me! The door is already locked. My children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you the bread now.’ 8 I tell you, maybe friendship is not enough to make him get up to give you the bread. But he will surely get up to give you what you need if you continue to ask. 9 So I tell you, continue to ask, and God will give to you. Continue to search, and you will find. Continue to knock, and the door will open for you. 10 Yes, whoever continues to ask will receive. Whoever continues to look will find. And whoever continues to knock will have the door opened for them. 11 Do any of you have a son? What would you do if your son asked you for a fish? Would any father give him a snake? 12 Or, if he asked for an egg, would you give him a scorpion? Of course not! 13 Even you who are bad know how to give good things to your children. So surely your heavenly Father knows how to give the Holy Spirit to the people who ask him.”

From the story all we must do to obtain a measure of the Holy Spirit is Ask, Seek, and knock.

We ask through prayer and petition
We seek in the bible, through the questions you have been asking and in places like a Good Jesus Christ centered Church
We knock by repeating this process till you Get what you have been asking and seeking for.

At first you will most likly be shown the sin in your life that is keeping you from a strong relationship with God. Repent or turn from this sin, and ask God to put it far from your heart. When you turn from your sins you will notice Spirit fruit, or evidences of the Holy Spirit in your life. Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

These fruit will begin to appear in your life or rather 'oppertunities' for these fruit will be made through your life's comming events.

Before long Spiritual fruit will be followed by Spiritual gifts which a long list can be compiled from various places like 1 cor 12. the important thing to remember is that not all gifts are the same even though they come from the same Spirit. Of said Spiritual gifts Spiritual discernement and wisdom can be numbered. which makes it possiable to rightfully divide the bible. But know this if you ask for Wisdom and Spiritual discernement You will also receive a great portion of humility. Humility is not a 'gift' generally given to you while you sleep. Men are made humble when broken and humiliated before their peers. i don't say this to scare or intimidate, just know what you are asking for.

all of this said know God is not a fool and will not be tricked into helping anyone who does not have a pure heart. That is why we must first put on Christ as our savior. Have you prayed the sinners prayer?

 

[bling]

So, what if your life is already perfect and you don't need any help?

How strong is your empathy for those around you?

This world is really messed up (for an excellent reason to helps us), so how do you escape being caught up in other people’s problems?

I have befriended agnostics before that have told me they have no real “problems” nor did they need help with anything (everything is going great). I got nowhere with them trying to bring them to Christ and even parted company with them, since we did not have enough in common (I really gave up on them). Years later I find they went through some really tragic situation, found help from the Lord and had shot past me in their Spiritual development. Others that jokingly put me down about it where asking to know more since they now had overwhelming responsibilities.

 

[SharonL]

The Bible to me is talking to God - straight from the Throne. The Holy Spirit is like tapping you on the shoulder saying - this is for you - the Holy Spirit always leads you to the open arms of Jesus showing you that Jesus is walking as close as your shadow and is your friend and leading me to do only what God has planned for me to do - the Holy Spirit just makes it clearer.

 

[nhisname]

Actually, I do not find truth within the Bible. I just want to know what it says, so that it may be help me understand literature and the English language better. The English language, I realize, is saturated with Christian or Biblical references, and they are usually hard to identify if one is not knowledgeable about the Bible or Christianity. When I read the Bible, I try to read it without bias. I practiced reading and summarizing news articles in my introductory Biology classes, and I continue this practice to everything I read - including the Bible - so that I can read things without bias. The summary must be based on the text, not elsewhere (unless you are trying to suggest that the Holy Spirit is embedded in the text, completely unmentioned). The point is to examine how things are worded and what things mean; those two things can help me summarize chapters in the Bible, so that I know what the chapter is about and refer to it later. It isn't perfect, so my knowledge about Christianity and the Bible is quite limited, and I only know how to read English and Spanish, not koine Greek or Hebrew. I just want to summarize the author's words, not analyze and intepret the author's words and apply them to my personal life, because that's the only thing I can do. Analyzing and intepreting require some thought and experience; just summarizing requires the ability to understand what Scripture actually says and rephrase it in my own words, but do so concisely and precisely to the best of my ability.



So, what if your life is already perfect and you don't need any help?



Actually, I was just trying to summarize and move on; I didn't intend to mean analyze and critically interpret the text. I am aware that my summary isn't perfect, because I can't read the original koine Greek or Hebrew. I just summarize what the English translation tells me. Because my summaries are based on English translations during my readings, I am not going to brag that I know the Bible, because I don't. I don't want to claim false knowledge. I may also want to know who this "Holy Spirit" is and exactly how the "Holy Spirit" can help me. What is it - a new reading style or something? Do you have a method that is workable and that you think is better than mine? I think suggesting an unspiritual person to be spiritual is not going to work. Am I supposed to imagine that there is Spirit watching me or what?

Read John 3:16 and then John 14. The Holy Spirit lives in a believer only.

 

[Hestha]

all of this said know God is not a fool and will not be tricked into helping anyone who does not have a pure heart. That is why we must first put on Christ as our savior. Have you prayed the sinners prayer?

No, I have not prayed the sinner's prayer. But still, why do you have to first repent and then read the Bible? Wouldn't it make more sense to read the Bible, recognize one's sins, and then repent them not vice versa?

How strong is your empathy for those around you?

It depends on how they are close to me.

This world is really messed up (for an excellent reason to helps us), so how do you escape being caught up in other people’s problems?

That's ok. Just ignore the other people who do have problems. And for the people who do have problems but are also close to you, then try to work with them and help them out. Families and friends support each other. I don't help strangers. I don't know them too well.

I have befriended agnostics before that have told me they have no real “problems” nor did they need help with anything (everything is going great). I got nowhere with them trying to bring them to Christ and even parted company with them, since we did not have enough in common (I really gave up on them).

So, you can't make friends with agnostics without introducing Christ in the relationships? Does this mean you cannot make a godless friendship?

Years later I find they went through some really tragic situation, found help from the Lord and had shot past me in their Spiritual development. Others that jokingly put me down about it where asking to know more since they now had overwhelming responsibilities.

What do you mean by "shot past me in their Spiritual development"? What did they actually do? What do you mean by "jokingly put me down"? What kind of responsibilities?

 

[drich0150]

No, I have not prayed the sinner's prayer. But still, why do you have to first repent and then read the Bible? Wouldn't it make more sense to read the Bible, recognize one's sins, and then repent them not vice versa?

You can repent and read the bible in what ever order you wish. You asked how to obtain Guideance from the Holy Spirit. If you go back to the parable in luke11 Christ asks:
11 Do any of you have a son? What would you do if your son asked you for a fish? Would any father give him a snake? 12 Or, if he asked for an egg, would you give him a scorpion? Of course not!

In Order for you to be a son of the Living God we are told that we must be saved. This can't happen unless you repent of your sins.

 

[brinny]

The Bible to me is talking to God - straight from the Throne. The Holy Spirit is like tapping you on the shoulder saying - this is for you - the Holy Spirit always leads you to the open arms of Jesus showing you that Jesus is walking as close as your shadow and is your friend and leading me to do only what God has planned for me to do - the Holy Spirit just makes it clearer.

Amen sister. God is GOOD, amen?

 

[Hestha]

You can repent and read the bible in what ever order you wish. You asked how to obtain Guideance from the Holy Spirit. If you go back to the parable in luke11 Christ asks:
11 Do any of you have a son? What would you do if your son asked you for a fish? Would any father give him a snake? 12 Or, if he asked for an egg, would you give him a scorpion? Of course not!

In Order for you to be a son of the Living God we are told that we must be saved. This can't happen unless you repent of your sins.

OK. I'll read the Bible and not repent. I am not going to be a follower of Christ.

 

[bling]

No, I have not prayed the sinner's prayer. But still, why do you have to first repent and then read the Bible? Wouldn't it make more sense to read the Bible, recognize one's sins, and then repent them not vice versa?

[/font][/size][/font]

It depends on how they are close to me.




That's ok. Just ignore the other people who do have problems. And for the people who do have problems but are also close to you, then try to work with them and help them out. Families and friends support each other. I don't help strangers. I don't know them too well.




So, you can't make friends with agnostics without introducing Christ in the relationships? Does this mean you cannot make a godless friendship?



What do you mean by "shot past me in their Spiritual development"? What did they actually do? What do you mean by "jokingly put me down"? What kind of responsibilities?

I can be friends with agnostics, but I am involved a lot in Christian activities, so they lose interest since they do not have the same motivation. Some friends have spouses that are agnostics and we get along just fine and they get along with the spouse, but these friends are also witnessing Christ to their spouse, daily.

Non-believers that I have worked with in the past (on College campuses, addicts and in prison) that I thought would never even convert, not only later converted, but made huge changes in their life, leading vastly more people than I have to Christ and going on to be full time ministers. They learned more and have greater wisdom then I do.

Jesus tells a parable about a rich man and a beggar (Lazarus) (Luke 16: 19-31). The rich man could have had a hospital named after him, but each day he tripped over Lazarus begging at his gate. Lazarus was there to provide the best opportunity for the rich man to experience true Godly type Love, it would have been great for the rich man and Lazarus if he had turned, but he did not. What was God to do?

 

[Hestha]

I can be friends with agnostics, but I am involved a lot in Christian activities, so they lose interest since they do not have the same motivation. Some friends have spouses that are agnostics and we get along just fine and they get along with the spouse, but these friends are also witnessing Christ to their spouse, daily.

What kind of Christian activities? Do the witnessing-to-the-spouse actually work? Hmmm... I wonder if Melinda Gates witnesses to her husband, Bill Gates, the agnostic.

Non-believers that I have worked with in the past (on College campuses, addicts and in prison) that I thought would never even convert, not only later converted, but made huge changes in their life, leading vastly more people than I have to Christ and going on to be full time ministers. They learned more and have greater wisdom then I do.

How do you get college students to convert? Are college students easier to deal with than addicts and prisoners since they tend to be younger and more naive than drug addicts and prisoners, which I presume to older and wiser?

Jesus tells a parable about a rich man and a beggar (Lazarus) (Luke 16: 19-31). The rich man could have had a hospital named after him, but each day he tripped over Lazarus begging at his gate. Lazarus was there to provide the best opportunity for the rich man to experience true Godly type Love, it would have been great for the rich man and Lazarus if he had turned, but he did not. What was God to do?

Lazarus. That name sounds familiar. Is this man the same man who has two sisters named Martha and Mary (not the same Mary as Mary Magdalene or Mary, the mother of Jesus)? I think I have read about him in the Book of John.

Perhaps, the answer to your question, "What was God to do?" is "God was to put Lazarus to sleep so that Jesus could wake him up." Sleeping means to raise Lazarus from the dead.

 

[drich0150]

OK. I'll read the Bible and not repent. I am not going to be a follower of Christ.

That is exactly why we have been given this life. To make that single desision you just made. good luck with the next one.

 

[Hestha]

good luck with the next one.

So, you believe in reincarnation?

 

[drich0150]

So, you believe in reincarnation?

no

 

[Hestha]

no

Then what do you mean by "good luck with the next one"?

 

[SharonL]

The decision you just made will be for eternity unless you have a change of heart - eternity is forever and forever and forever.

 

[Hestha]

The decision you just made will be for eternity unless you have a change of heart - eternity is forever and forever and forever.

That sounds good to me. Isn't your decision to repent an eternal decision as well?

 

[bling]

What kind of Christian activities? Do the witnessing-to-the-spouse actually work? Hmmm... I wonder if Melinda Gates witnesses to her husband, Bill Gates, the agnostic.

The Christian activities I was refer to are those that help others, like working with the homeless, inviting people to parties that cannot return the favor, visiting the sick, and helping needy people over doing something to just self satisfy.

Yes, spouses have been wonderful witnesses that have converted their spouse.

I do not know much about Melinda Gates, but she could be.

How do you get college students to convert? Are college students easier to deal with than addicts and prisoners since they tend to be younger and more naive than drug addicts and prisoners, which I presume to older and wiser?

For the most part “people are people”, most people are addicted in some way to something, I would go on to say: I have found the non-Christian is addicted to sinning, so I am always dealing with addicts. Everyone could use the twelve step program.

I worked with prisoners program teaching Bible (one hour on Sunday morning to a group of 14 with three other Christians teaching groups of 14) and taught three types of “Christians”. The first type is guys (going to school it is called) that start out their stay causing trouble getting thrown in the tank. Then they start increasingly attending the services, carrying their Bible, being nice, and say they are Christians. By the time the parole board meets they have this glowing report showing continued improvement and are released. These guys still carry weapons, are members of a gang, and every prisoner know they just “went to school” to get out. The second type were converted before they went to prison (grandma conversions), but watch raunchy TV, hang with a loss group, laugh at off colored jokes, are not always talking about Jesus and are not trying to convert others. Their first day the snitches see this talk to the Bulls that approach them and make them a slave or at best gang member. They still come to Bible study on Sunday so they can tell Granny (who visits them Sunday afternoon) what they learned, but they are slaves (sometimes sexually) to some bull. The third type is fanatical, they stick close to each other, they: study, pray, witness to everyone, and avoid even a hint of insincerity that the snitches could see. They carry no weapons, but step between those that are being beaten especially in persecution. They had grown over the last 3 years from just a couple of guys to now 42, but it came at a high price. Each convert had on the day he was baptized given up the protection of his gang membership, turned over his weapons along with all his possessions (the gang owns everything including them), they were beaten if not by the gang they left, then by other gangs looking for payback and then they were watch constantly looking for any sign the snitches might interpret as weakness (anything less than what Christ would do in the situation, would result in a beating). There is absolutely no privacy and these Christians never wanted to be found alone. They slept in barracks where at least one stayed awake all night praying over them so they could sleep without the fear of being smashed in the head in the middle of the night. These guys believed and counted on power from the Holy Spirit, I did not know existed. They come battered and bruised each week hungry for some real meaningful Christ like lesson that goes beyond their group study of 40+hours that week on the same subject, which I could not provide. They mostly helped me with my poor example of Christianity.

Lazarus. That name sounds familiar. Is this man the same man who has two sisters named Martha and Mary (not the same Mary as Mary Magdalene or Mary, the mother of Jesus)? I think I have read about him in the Book of John.

Perhaps, the answer to your question, "What was God to do?" is "God was to put Lazarus to sleep so that Jesus could wake him up." Sleeping means to raise Lazarus from the dead.

“A little knowledge can hurt you more than help you”.

Lazarus is a common first century Jewish name, so they do not have to be the same person and from the stories are not the same person. The story of the “Rich man and Lazarus” might just be a parable and not even a real person, but we find lots of people like both the rich man and Lazarus in this world (you can read about him in Luke 16: 19-31). I was asking what you thought God could have done more than He did do to try and help the Rich man to in his heart repent and cease the opportunity Lazarus was providing.

 

[Hestha]

The Christian activities I was refer to are those that help others, like working with the homeless, inviting people to parties that cannot return the favor, visiting the sick, and helping needy people over doing something to just self satisfy.

Oh. You mean doing charity work. Must be fun.

 

[RaiseTheDead]

What really happens during your Bible-reading? I am not Christian; I am not religious; I am not spiritual. So, when I read the Bible, I just give it the benefit of the doubt and read it like how I read other books.

To me? He taught me how to read. He taught me how to understand. And after a lifetime of doing so, I come to find out that what I thought were radically independent positions, aere actually what the Church taught from the beginning

That's what happens (in my case