Research more?

[markthomas]

No, Christians need to stop looking for God in scripture and develope a relationship with him in the spiritual realm. All answers will come when you are able to hear the Holy Spirit.

"That He might sancity her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word." Ephesians 5:26
Scripture is so important. When you begin to stray from the Word of God you may begin to drift away from the sound teaching all together.
Jimmy, after reading some of your posts, I think you need to get back into the sound teaching. Hell is certainly not located in the Earth, and heaven is certainly not located out in space. If you are indeed recieving divine revalation from our Lord, then you need to be more careful discerning what your own thoughts are and what the Lord is trying to tell you. When you said that God told you these things by divine revalation, I began to believe that you don't follow the sound teaching and are not recieving divine revalation from our Lord, but instead are making up things in order to seem as you have wisdom and direct contact with Him, or are recieving revalation from a DIFFERENT spirit.

 

[Sophia7]

Should Christians read up more and do research more or depend on what is taught in church? There are people who like to say that christians do not read up more and like to depend on superficial things. I'm wondering how much research is considered enough.

I became a Christian because I read the Bible for myself. I grew up going to church, but it wasn't until I was 16 that I actually started reading the Bible. I believe that it was the Holy Spirit who gave me the desire to do that. Actually, it was more like an obsession at the time (if an obsession can be a good thing). I read for weeks. I spent almost all of my free time reading the Bible, until I had read the whole thing. I still spend time every day reading it. And it was the Holy Spirit who helped me understand what I was reading. I had heard stories about Jesus all my life, but it wasn't until I read about Him myself in the Bible that I really knew Him and accepted Him into my life in a personal way as my Savior.

My belief is that we should not read and study the Bible so that we can show everyone how much we know or how much we can impress them with our knowledge of Greek or Hebrew. We should read the Bible to learn about Jesus. I read the Bible now as one way of learning more about God and also of maintaining a personal connection with Him. It is important to study it; without the standard of the Bible we could easily be deceived by false spirits. And the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual understanding. Without the Holy Spirit we cannot understand anything about God:

1 Corinthians 2:10b The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:

16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord
that he may instruct him?"

But we have the mind of Christ.

Also, I don't think that we need to know the original languages to understand the Bible. My husband is a pastor and knows a lot of Greek and a fair amount of Hebrew. If he teaches people about some deep meaning of the Bible that they would have to know Greek to figure out, it gives them the impression that they can't read the Bible themselves and understand it. In fact, it often discourages them from reading it at all and makes it more likely that they will rely on the pastor to interpret it for them.

On the forums, we discuss many controversial issues, and a knowledge of the original languages is sometimes helpful in figuring out certain things, especially when we disagree. However, in real life, most people don't sit around all the time discussing controversial interpretations of the Bible. They have busy lives, and God often gets pushed into the background. We encourage them to set aside time each day to read the Bible (as well as praying and other things that keep us close to God). One thing that my husband teaches people is how to read the Bible in context to see what it is actually saying, not what they already think it says. People have a tendency to read the Bible in proof-text portions, pulling out little snippets rather than looking at how the whole thing fits together.

There is nothing wrong with deeper study and learning original languages and reading commentaries and listening to preachers; I myself enjoy studying Greek and doing research and reading historical background information. As far as I'm concerned, we should never stop learning, but sometimes knowledge leads to pride in our own abilities and intellectual accomplishments, and we forget that it is the Holy Spirit who gives us understanding and spiritual discernment. You could be the most learned biblical scholar on the planet and not really know Jesus. Or you could be a simple, uneducated fisherman and be called to change the world by telling others about what Jesus has done for you.

 

[linssue55]

No, Christians need to stop looking for God in scripture and develope a relationship with him in the spiritual realm. All answers will come when you are able to hear the Holy Spirit.

You are WRONG!!! GOD IS KNOWLEDGE, NOT WHAT YOU FEEL.....

"The WORD of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing usunder, the soul and the spirit, the joints of the marrow, and is the "THOUGHT" and critic and intense of the heart.

ALL SCRIPTURE IS GOD BREATHED, and is profitable, for doctrine, for re-proof, for correction for INSTRUCTIONS in righteouness, that the man of God might be MATURE, thouroughly furnished unto all good works.

It say's NOTHING about FEELING (the spirit world....cosmos is the devil's realm) the WORD.

 

[Strong in Him]

You are WRONG!!! GOD IS KNOWLEDGE, NOT WHAT YOU FEEL.....

But God gave us feelings, and while we shouldn't rely on these alone because they are fickle, he can speak and minister to us through feelings and emotions. Many people sense God's presence, or know an answer to their prayers because they feel something - peace, Joy, maybe a sense of awe, or sadness for our sin, etc. This is not unnatural or wrong, why should it be? Jesus said we should worship God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength - our heart and soul includes our feelings.

 

[Athene]

You are WRONG!!! GOD IS KNOWLEDGE, NOT WHAT YOU FEEL.....



It say's NOTHING about FEELING (the spirit world....cosmos is the devil's realm) the WORD.

Eeek! Talk about putting God in a box... God exists outside the pages of the bible, and he communcates to us outside the bible.

The bible is a useful primary source of information to learn 'about' God, but if you want to 'know' God you have to pray and worship and let God into your life.

 

[linssue55]

But God gave us feelings, and while we shouldn't rely on these alone because they are fickle, he can speak and minister to us through feelings and emotions. Many people sense God's presence, or know an answer to their prayers because they feel something - peace, Joy, maybe a sense of awe, or sadness for our sin, etc. This is not unnatural or wrong, why should it be? Jesus said we should worship God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength - our heart and soul includes our feelings.

You are half right.....
But the WORD is what the Lord wants us to learn, you take away the WORD and we are only stuck with our feelings. I have nothing against emotions, they are God given, but they must be directed to our soul as an "Appreciator of the soul", and never used alone without the word. The word is how we use the directions from the Lord on how we are to grow in the KNOWLEDGE of our Lord, emotion and or feelings are only apart of living, and should never be our motivator in the negative. The WORD is ALL important, even without emotions.

Example.......I have terrible headaches and pain at times, then my emotions are at an all time low, BUT my love for the Lord and His doctrines, highly out way anything else in my life including these emotions. In otherwards, I do not have to feel that I love the Lord, For It does not come from my feelings, it comes from what I THINK, for Love is a mental attitude, and should not be based on what we feel.

 

[linssue55]

Eeek! Talk about putting God in a box... God exists outside the pages of the bible, and he communcates to us outside the bible.

The bible is a useful primary source of information to learn 'about' God, but if you want to 'know' God you have to pray and worship and let God into your life.

My goodness where did this come from?.....you don't even know me, and you are talking to me like I have no knowledge of our Lord, and the Christian way of life

You people need to go back to whom I originally wrote my post to.....
........................................................................................................
Quote

Originally Posted by: Jimmy West

No, Christians need to stop looking for God in scripture and develope a relationship with him in the spiritual realm. All answers will come when you are able to hear the Holy Spirit.

It was my answer to jimmywest........
......................................................................................................

I do not exclude the word..........and only rely on what I feel, as he stated.

I have emotions and feelings like everyone else, but they are to be used in perspective with scripture and life, and NOT the Motivator in life. For the Lord say's, we are what we "think". Knowledge is my motivatior over emotions.

 

[Strong in Him]

You are half right.....
But the WORD is what the Lord wants us to learn, you take away the WORD and we are only stuck with our feelings.

It is not an an either/or situation, and I wouldn't dream of suggesting that we take the word away. Of course we need it, we can rely on that and on our unchanging God, whereas feelings are unreliable. We can mistake feelings of enthsuiam as being God speaking to us. We can also mistake feelings of sadness/boredom/the blues as being a sign that God has left us. But equally feelings can be a way of determining that God has spoken to us specifically through his word. If we are going through a tough time and read a verse about trusting God, it is possible to feel his peace as he ministers that word to us. If we read verses about God's incredible, unfailing love, it is possible to feel excited as we realise that this is for us too, and that nothing can ever seperate us from it. We have faith in this word, not in our excitement - the latter is a result of the former.

And yes, I know that these verses might not always draw forth this response, I'm just trying to give an example.

 

[linssue55]

It is not an an either/or situation, and I wouldn't dream of suggesting that we take the word away. Of course we need it, we can rely on that and on our unchanging God, whereas feelings are unreliable. We can mistake feelings of enthsuiam as being God speaking to us. We can also mistake feelings of sadness/boredom/the blues as being a sign that God has left us. But equally feelings can be a way of determining that God has spoken to us specifically through his word. If we are going through a tough time and read a verse about trusting God, it is possible to feel his peace as he ministers that word to us. If we read verses about God's incredible, unfailing love, it is possible to feel excited as we realise that this is for us too, and that nothing can ever seperate us from it. We have faith in this word, not in our excitement - the latter is a result of the former.

And yes, I know that these verses might not always draw forth this response, I'm just trying to give an example.

Feelings are ok but they do not rule my life, I use them in their correct context.

Go to the post right above you here, and it will show that my first post was to Jimmywest post, is how all of this got started, and my post you read, and commented on was for Jimmy, and now it has been taken out of context. It was directed to HIM from HIS post. By reading HIS post may clarify my comments. I think people should not jump around without reading the entire thread.

 

[Strong in Him]

Feelings are ok but they do not rule my life, I use them in their correct context.

Well good.

Go to the post right above you here, and it will show that my first post was to Jimmywest post, is how all of this got started, and my post you read, and commented on was for Jimmy, and now it has been taken out of context. It was directed to HIM from HIS post. By reading HIS post may clarify my comments. I think people should not jump around without reading the entire thread.

I know you were replying to his post, and I do not think your remarks have been taken out of context, though I admit I may have wandered slightly off the point.

Jimmy said that hearing from God is more important than reading the word. You correctly replied that reading Scripture is important and feelings are not to be the things by which we measure our relationship with God. For my part I was agreeing with you, though I remarked in passing that feelings are God given, and can be important. You may not be aware that Jimmy considers that all his teaching comes directly from God himself, and that God tells him things that contradict Scripture. No one else agrees that this is possible, but where I do agree with him is that it IS possible to hear from God himself. I just believe that he will never say anything to us that contradicts his word.

So I'm sorry if I have contributed to any misunderstanding, I was thinking aloud about feelings in general.

 

[Harlan Norris]

Should Christians read up more and do research more or depend on what is taught in church? There are people who like to say that christians do not read up more and like to depend on superficial things. I'm wondering how much research is considered enough.

I believe there is a message in the Bible for every individual. I'ts important to read it. The teachings at my church are not all to my viewpoint. However the pastor at my current church is open to discussion on the one issue that I wanted to clarify.There are other points where we differ.I seriously doubt that I could find a church that agreed with me on all points. Mainly because I'm shure I wrong on some points. But if their doctrin was far from scripture, I'd know it and move on.

 

[linssue55]

Well good.



I know you were replying to his post, and I do not think your remarks have been taken out of context, though I admit I may have wandered slightly off the point.

Jimmy said that hearing from God is more important than reading the word. You correctly replied that reading Scripture is important and feelings are not to be the things by which we measure our relationship with God. For my part I was agreeing with you, though I remarked in passing that feelings are God given, and can be important. You may not be aware that Jimmy considers that all his teaching comes directly from God himself, and that God tells him things that contradict Scripture. No one else agrees that this is possible, but where I do agree with him is that it IS possible to hear from God himself. I just believe that he will never say anything to us that contradicts his word.

So I'm sorry if I have contributed to any misunderstanding, I was thinking aloud about feelings in general.

No problem. Feelings are wonderful, as an Appreciator, but the word is where my strength comes from, and from this strength, my emotions for the Lord are, and all that He has done for me, I could explode with gratitude, and love for Him.

 

[revmalone]

Christians should start practicing what they read and spend less time arguing.

icxn

Yes, but they must read

 

[revmalone]

Christians should start practicing what they read and spend less time arguing.

icxn

they must read to practice it.

Rev Malone

 

[icxn]

they must read to practice it.

Rev Malone

And it only takes a handfull of hours. Still how long does it take you to read for example:

"... Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." (Lk. 18:22)

Now let's do it... anybody?