Some people talk about God's "leading," but they seem to have more in mind signs or feelings. Lately I keep running into those who say they hear voices telling them directly what to do.
Thank you for explaining. I had no idea that some topics are too controversial for christians.
Christians are willing to deal with controversial issues that can be proven conclusively via scriptural support.
But certain subjects are inevitably unprovable and one comes back full circle to "WE can't really say 100% for sure!"" So such issues can cause Christians to not participate in a discussion in order to avoid wasting time.
I personally ask God to talk to me personally and would appreciate it if he would. However, if indeed I have him do so, how am I to prove to anyone else that it was really God and not:
1, An auditory hallucination
2. A deceiving spirit?
3. An anti-biblical NT concept?
After all, we are told to by the Apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy to rely on the Bible for instruction and not on personal revelations from God. All things are written for our instruction.
2Tim 3:16
15From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.…
So if indeed the Bible in itself offers guidance, then direct messages can be scripturally deemed as unnecessary. True, they were essential for the writing of the Bible. But that period is over with since the mission was accomplished. However, who is to say that God would not make a special exception? And there is the crux of the matter. We can view such claims as suspect but cannot dismiss them with 100% certainty.
BTW
There are then Christians who would point out the occasions where God's Holy Spirit spoke to Christians as evidence that such voices from God do occur. The leading of Phillip to baptize the Ethiopian Eunuch is one. They would cite scriptures where Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit would tell us what we are to say when preaching the gospel. That might be interpreted as hearing voice.
This scripture:
1 John 4:1
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New International Version
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.
will l be countered with this one:
1 Corinthians 13:8
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New International Version
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
So the discussion would Ping-Pong back and forth and finally wind up back at the start with "We really can't say with 100% certainty one way or the other"
However, one thing is definitely for sure, if a message claimed to be from God is antichrist, or anti biblical in any way, then it definitely isn't from God. Now THAT is 100% certain.