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When God communicates, how can we know it is God?
- Thread starter Cieza
- Start date
Why do you suppose a Demon was speaking to Paul? In your other post you said Demons don't exist. Are you know saying they do?
Also I cannot believe you didn't notice the verses following the ones you put here. I wonder if you left them out on purpose.
"6Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." 7 The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone's voice but saw no one! 8Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus."
If it wasn't Jesus speaking, How do we account for Saul's blindness, and when he receives his sight again? How do we account for the fact that Jesus told Ananias to go to Saul and restore his sight? Here is another man who heard the voice of Jesus. And when he then has a sudden change in behavior and becomes Paul, how do we account for that? An angry, threatening Jew to a peaceful, professing Christian. When Paul and Silas were in prison praying, they were miraculously freed by an earthquake. How do we account for that? How do we account for Paul's alignment with the other Apostles, who followed Jesus?
The answer is Jesus was the one who spoke to Paul. I would've figured the light down from heaven and invisible voice alone would be obvious enough.
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Look at Acts 20. It says the Holy Spirit told Paul to not go to Jerusalem, but Paul went, apparently listening to the Holy Spirit. I think the only way we can tell is we are being led by the Spirit is if the leading is being loving to others. If not it is not God that is doing the leading.
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The bible and the holy spirit work together
2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
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M
MetanoiaHeart
Guest
You raise an interesting question. Which comes first, faith or repentance? I think it's because of my faith that I repent...
Carry on.
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Again you are leaving out prior verses. Also I'm not sure you know the order of the names. He was born Saul, and born again as Paul. Start reading Acts 22:1 and keep going. Paul gives his testimony of his conversion and he is baptized. When he talks about the death of Stephen, he is recalling on the time when he was Saul. Plus he is speaking to Jesus when he says verse 20. So of course God has chosen him.
If you look at the Bible, God chooses the most unlikeliest of people to serve him. Think about Moses, he had a speech impediment and yet God chose him to be a leader and speak to the Pharaoh on his behalf. Paul was a vile Christian-hating murderer and yet God chose him as one of the most passionate evangelists in history. Peter denied the Lord three times and yet he became the rock of the church. David was small and young, yet God chose him to become a fierce warrior. Gideon was meek, but he lead three hundred men to defeat the Midianites. Isn't it amazing?
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Paul did not trash the Torah or anything the Jews were doing as long as it did not impact the Gentiles, but He did not want the Jews and Jewish Christians putting the Gentile Christians under the Law.
As far as God using a murderer to do great things, God used the murderer King David to do great things.
As far as Paul believing the Spirit was from God and Jesus himself, He could have thought he got heat stroke fell off His horse and had a bad dream. Paul was no jerk, but was hyperactive, so the time he spent blind and fasting was good to let him think this through and with help from Ananias, with great knowledge of the Old Testament he better than most could figure this out.
As Jesus has taught us a house divided cannot stand so Paul driving out demons and healing miracles could not be satan working through Him.
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You do a lot of nit picking these scriptures.
In Galatians Paul is trying to emphasis how he was trained by Jesus and not trying to give a chronological blow by blow description of a few days after leaving Damascus. He did not go to the Apostles for training, but was brought to them by Barnabas and Barnabas does the talking. Paul did not go to (consult) the other apostles for instruction and that is what the Galatians needed to hear and that is what paul told them which is true.
Also, the writing style of that day was to not follow cronological order but to stay on topic hitting the high points, so Acts part about being led down in a basket and going to Jerusalem could have been after 3 years and Paul's revisting Damascus.
In Galatians Paul is trying to emphasis how he was trained by Jesus and not trying to give a chronological blow by blow description of a few days after leaving Damascus. He did not go to the Apostles for training, but was brought to them by Barnabas and Barnabas does the talking. Paul did not go to (consult) the other apostles for instruction and that is what the Galatians needed to hear and that is what paul told them which is true.
Also, the writing style of that day was to not follow cronological order but to stay on topic hitting the high points, so Acts part about being led down in a basket and going to Jerusalem could have been after 3 years and Paul's revisting Damascus.
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talitha
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I will tell you, but you will not like it.
At least I think you won't.
We know it's God because there is something in us that recognizes him.
Particularly when we are inclined to follow him - whether as a seeker or as a disciple.
You see, God usually does not appeal to our intellect - the intellect is not part of a man's spirit. Rather, the communication is spiritual. It is difficult to verbalize what that means; all I can say is that there is a knowing.
We can confirm that it is God sometimes by looking at Scripture; God does not violate his own revealed word, though sometimes he reveals more of the meaning, giving us new perspectives.....
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If God doesn't appear to our intellect, then why are we asked to read a book (an intellectual process) to recognize God?
What is the something in us that recognizes that a communication from God is actually God?
Are Christians physiologically different from atheists such that they have that something in them while atheists don't?
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Most people don't realize that reading your Bible is a very modern thing. People used to hear God's Word preached, Bibles were not so commonplace that we read it. So in the way you phrased that question, no, we are not asked to read a book to recognize God.
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Witness
Word
Circumstances
Does it witness to your spirit that it is from God?
Does it fit in with the bible and it's teaching?
Are the circumstances right?
If you always wait for all three to be right you are pretty sure to have it right. I have always found this to be a good test of things I am not sure of.
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talitha
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Their "gods" do not violate their own "scriptures" either, I suppose. Deception would not be effective were it not somehow convincing. When people of those faiths convert to Christianity, they recognize the difference between the false and the real.
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sorry - closing this for review.
The guidelines for this forum are here:
http://www.christianforums.com/t7454511/
sorry - closing this for review.
The guidelines for this forum are here:
http://www.christianforums.com/t7454511/
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- Jul 2, 2003
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This thread has undergone a clean up
As a reminder, the only non-Christian allowed to post in this thread is the OP. If you see another non-Christian posting, please report and do not quote and respond.
reopening this
This thread has undergone a clean up
As a reminder, the only non-Christian allowed to post in this thread is the OP. If you see another non-Christian posting, please report and do not quote and respond.
reopening this
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Please answer the original question. When God communicates to a human, how can the human know it is God?
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Why are the spirits of atheists closed off? Is it through some intellectual process that their spirits are closed off? Is it because God did not communicate to them in a way that they would recognize it was God? Or is there some other reason?
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Please elaborate.
When God communicates, how do we know it is God? Is there a way to quantify the communication as being from God?
Does God offer general communication - in which he communicates precisely the same thing to everyone (or a large body of people)? Or does God communicate in a uniquely different way to each person?
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I responded in this thread. Another user asked more or less the same question. http://www.christianforums.com/t7580769/
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