Tree of Life
Hide The Pain
An absolute, apodictic proof of ANYTHING is probably an unreachable goal. Hence, that shouldn't really be the fulcrum on which the debate pivots. A better question, 'Where does the bulk of evidence point?'
By all accounts, the NT is, through and through, a highly charismatic text. One therefore has to ask, WHY would someone, having read such a text, lean toward a non-charismatic theology?
The most likely reason isn't the text itself, but EXPERIENCE. Today we see little or no convincing manifestations of the gifts, and hence we feel the need to find an explanation. All too often, this effort to explain away the gifts leads to a very forced, seemingly torturous reading of the critical texts.
The NT is indeed very charismatic. But what about the whole Bible? If you put the NT into the context of the whole Bible you'll notice that miraculous gifts come and go at key moments in redemptive history and they are absent in other moments.
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