How literally do you interpret the Bible?

[wonder111]

If you trust God, why do you not trust the revelation God has given to those who have come before us? There have been a great many giants of spirituality who have come before us. Should I doubt what God has shown them via the Holy Spirit?

How do you know when what you believe the HS is showing you is correct? Lets not forget that Satan can and does appear as an angel of light. He is very crafty and decieves the best of us from time to time.

Because His presence is around me constantly, and the love in my life is overwhelming. I have no fear, and the peace is undeniably from God (if undeniablys a word)


That's all the Holy Spirit is showing me, what do you mean I don't trust the revelation God gave to those before us?

 

[dignitized]

wonder: wow I wish I had the faith in MYSELF that you have in yourself.

I mean that you are not the first person to be given insight from God. How do you reconcile when your revelation differs from the revelation of other great men of God who have gone before us? St Augustine or St Ignatius of Antioch or even St John Chrysostom?

 

[wonder111]

wow, your insult much appreciated! If we can keep up the discussion without them, I will continue


I don't think you understand what I wrote, I don't have revelations coming from God. I have God in my life, without a doubt, no words will be able to tell you why. I follow the teachings of Christ, and they're quite simple. By the way, my faith is definitely not in myself (although i can see why some would think that lol!). The truth is written in our hearts and in our conscience

Peace be with you , Br. Max

 

[wonder111]

one more thing

The Bible very clearly and literally teaches that the world is flat and does not travel around the sun (Psalm 104).* When Copernicus and Galileo came up with the heliocentric theory (the theory that the world is round and travels around the sun), the Church rejected their science and persecuted and ridiculed those who accepted it.* It took a long time for Christians to change their beliefs.* A hundred years after Copernicus and Galileo there were still country preachers who taught that the earth was flat* Now there is virtually nobody left who seriously believes that the earth is flat.* We (Christians) now interpret those Bible passages and verses as metaphorical or symbolic with deep spiritual meaning and not as scientifically valid descriptions of geophysics.

 

[dignitized]

wow, your insult much appreciated! If we can keep up the discussion without them, I will continue


I don't think you understand what I wrote, I don't have revelations coming from God. I have God in my life, without a doubt, no words will be able to tell you why. I follow the teachings of Christ, and they're quite simple. By the way, my faith is definitely not in myself (although i can see why some would think that lol!). The truth is written in our hearts and in our conscience

Peace be with you , Br. Max

It is tragic that you would assume that anything I said was intended as an insult. I tell you honestly that I do not have the faith in my self that you appear to have in yourself. I must test every "revelation" every spirit to know that it is not me or my wishful thinking that attributes that thing to God - but that it is in truth God.

I will agree that the truth is written in our hearts,m but I will also remind you that we as human beings are FALLEN in nature. We are prone to sin and to have sinful thoughts. WHat more - the mind is the battleground of the soul where satan contends with God for our eternal spirits. It is in the mind that we are attacked - in the mind that we fight - in the mind that we must win the victories.

 

[dignitized]

one more thing

The Bible very clearly and literally teaches that the world is flat and does not travel around the sun (Psalm 104).* When Copernicus and Galileo came up with the heliocentric theory (the theory that the world is round and travels around the sun), the Church rejected their science and persecuted and ridiculed those who accepted it.* It took a long time for Christians to change their beliefs.* A hundred years after Copernicus and Galileo there were still country preachers who taught that the earth was flat* Now there is virtually nobody left who seriously believes that the earth is flat.* We (Christians) now interpret those Bible passages and verses as metaphorical or symbolic with deep spiritual meaning and not as scientifically valid descriptions of geophysics.

1 - the psalms are poetic not historic.

2 - pslam 104 does not say the world is flat.

3 - some will read what is written in 104 and conculde that the world is flat, but that is NOT the same as saying the world if flat.

4 - the problem with Galileo's theories was not that he said the earth revolved around the sun, but that he said the Earth is not the center of creation.

 

[wonder111]

It is tragic that you would assume that anything I said was intended as an insult. I tell you honestly that I do not have the faith in my self that you appear to have in yourself. I must test every "revelation" every spirit to know that it is not me or my wishful thinking that attributes that thing to God - but that it is in truth God.

I will agree that the truth is written in our hearts,m but I will also remind you that we as human beings are FALLEN in nature. We are prone to sin and to have sinful thoughts. WHat more - the mind is the battleground of the soul where satan contends with God for our eternal spirits. It is in the mind that we are attacked - in the mind that we fight - in the mind that we must win the victories.

sorry if I misunderstand you in anything. I agree the mind is the battleground, but eventually when love takes over, that's all there is, there's no more fighting.
And "perfect love casts out all fear" I love that verse

 

[Deamiter]

Wonder111 - you said earlier that the Holy Spirit guides you in ways that the Bible cannot. I'd submit that the Bible can guide you in ways that the Holy Spirit DOES not. In my life, when God has given me a tool (as the Bible) He has expected me to use it to it's full potential. When I've got the Bible sitting in front of me, why would I ask the Holy Spirit "What is love?"

Anyway, you seem to say that you trust the Holy Spirit for EVERYTHING over the Bible. However, I would trust anything in the Bible over something I believe is from the Holy Spirit (if they ever contradict). There is so much deception (and by deception I don't just mean lies. It means you are decieved until you are shown the truth) that if you trust your understanding of the Bible or of the Holy spirit over concrete truth set in the Bible, you will be misled.

 

[Ken]

the thing to remember (Max) is that the fathers were not infallible in their understandings of the Scripture...... so one cannot blindly accept "tradition" (as if we really know what we mean by that word “tradition”, or as if the RC can even tell us exactly what this body of information called "tradition” is comprised of!!) but we must test all things against the Word of God itself, that is the final authority... that is not say that good godly men and women will not disagree with one another, but this is hardly a phenomenon found only among Protestants...!! LOL!!!

 

[wonder111]

Wonder111 - you said earlier that the Holy Spirit guides you in ways that the Bible cannot. I'd submit that the Bible can guide you in ways that the Holy Spirit DOES not. In my life, when God has given me a tool (as the Bible) He has expected me to use it to it's full potential. When I've got the Bible sitting in front of me, why would I ask the Holy Spirit "What is love?"

Anyway, you seem to say that you trust the Holy Spirit for EVERYTHING over the Bible. However, I would trust anything in the Bible over something I believe is from the Holy Spirit (if they ever contradict). There is so much deception (and by deception I don't just mean lies. It means you are decieved until you are shown the truth) that if you trust your understanding of the Bible or of the Holy spirit over concrete truth set in the Bible, you will be misled.

I never said they contradict each other. The Holy Spirit has convicted me many times. Also, just because I don't believe in a literal 6 day creation, doesn't change the meaning at all.

Now I know why they say never discuss politics or religion. lol!

 

[Crazy Liz]

1 - the psalms are poetic not historic.

2 - pslam 104 does not say the world is flat.

3 - some will read what is written in 104 and conculde that the world is flat, but that is NOT the same as saying the world if flat.

4 - the problem with Galileo's theories was not that he said the earth revolved around the sun, but that he said the Earth is not the center of creation.

Interesting that you interpret the Psalms that way. What does this interpretaiton of the Psalms do to the most common anti-abortion proof-text, Psalm 139:

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

 

[dignitized]

Liz: I did not say the psalms were untrue just no historic, but they are POETIC. Poems can tell great truths

 

[VigoMedic]

wonder: wow I wish I had the faith in MYSELF that you have in yourself.

I never said they contradict each other. The Holy Spirit has convicted me many times. Also, just because I don't believe in a literal 6 day creation, doesn't change the meaning at all.

Now I know why they say never discuss politics or religion. lol!

I follow what wonder is saying in regard to her understanding of scripture and the Holy Spirit. Just becuase wonder is saying that she is confident and at peace doesn't mean that she places her faith in herself. I never took anything she said as relflective of that. What I understand her to say is that she trusts the Holy Spirit's guidance and she has an undeniable peace about herself becuase of it - a peace and feeling of love that could only come from God. I don't think that there is anything wrong with that at all; I have the same understanding and peace.

Also, I don't believe she ever made a statement saying that the Holy Spirit and the Bible contradict each other. On the contrary, we are to prayerfully use the guidance of the Holy Spirit when reading Scripture, thus granting us peace and understanding in what we just read. Speaking for myself, I can tell you that is the reason I am very much at peace with my understanding of God's Word. (Which is what I think wonder was trying to say as well - correct me if I'm wrong). Of course, I do not claim to understand all that is to be understood in His Word, and that is the reason I rely on the Holy Spirit to guide me to a greater "enlightenment" each time I open my Bible.

Now, please do not misunderstand me, I am not saying that because someone has a different understanding of certain pieces of scripture that they are "wrong". The point that I have been trying to make is that two, genuinely, spirit-filled human beings can have two different understandings of certain points of scripture; it happens all the time! Christ's own, chosen apostles didn't even agree all the time! When a scripture is understood two different ways does that mean that one of them MUST be wrong? No! I quote from one of my earlier posts: "...when we believe we have discovered and embraced the totality of truth we are in spiritual danger."

I am not necessarily accusing anyone specifically in this thread of this, but it really bugs me when people are of the opinion that when another Christian doesn't completely agree with their theology or own understanding, that the other person is simply wrong. I believe that when we do that, we trivialize God, Scripture, and His love for us. (I refer to the quote in my signature).

I leave you with a teaching of our lord Christ (Mark chapter 9, NIV, emphasis added):

38 "Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us."
39 "Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for us.

Peace.

 

[dignitized]

How can two people filled with the same Spirit of God come to the exact opposite conclusions about he same Scriptures unless one of them is not really filled with the spirit of God at all? Can God stand in contradiction of Himself? Or perhaps it is that we being imperfect are not able always to understand what the spirit within us is saying?

 

[wonder111]

I follow what wonder is saying in regard to her understanding of scripture and the Holy Spirit. Just becuase wonder is saying that she is confident and at peace doesn't mean that she places her faith in herself. I never took anything she said as relflective of that. What I understand her to say is that she trusts the Holy Spirit's guidance and she has an undeniable peace about herself becuase of it - a peace and feeling of love that could only come from God. I don't think that there is anything wrong with that at all; I have the same understanding and peace.

Also, I don't believe she ever made a statement saying that the Holy Spirit and the Bible contradict each other. On the contrary, we are to prayerfully use the guidance of the Holy Spirit when reading Scripture, thus granting us peace and understanding in what we just read. Speaking for myself, I can tell you that is the reason I am very much at peace with my understanding of God's Word. (Which is what I think wonder was trying to say as well - correct me if I'm wrong). Of course, I do not claim to understand all that is to be understood in His Word, and that is the reason I rely on the Holy Spirit to guide me to a greater "enlightenment" each time I open my Bible.

Now, please do not misunderstand me, I am not saying that because someone has a different understanding of certain pieces of scripture that they are "wrong". The point that I have been trying to make is that two, genuinely, spirit-filled human beings can have two different understandings of certain points of scripture; it happens all the time! Christ's own, chosen apostles didn't even agree all the time! When a scripture is understood two different ways does that mean that one of them MUST be wrong? No! I quote from one of my earlier posts: "...when we believe we have discovered and embraced the totality of truth we are in spiritual danger."

I am not necessarily accusing anyone specifically in this thread of this, but it really bugs me when people are of the opinion that when another Christian doesn't completely agree with their theology or own understanding, that the other person is simply wrong. I believe that when we do that, we trivialize God, Scripture, and His love for us. (I refer to the quote in my signature).

I leave you with a teaching of our lord Christ (Mark chapter 9, NIV, emphasis added):

38 "Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us."
39 "Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for us.

Peace.

Thanks VigoMedic!
you explained what I meant better than myself