When God communicates, how can we know it is God?

[Cieza]

I responded in this thread. Another user asked more or less the same question. http://www.christianforums.com/t7580769/

Unfortunately the rules state I cannot post in that thread. Can you please respond here.

 

[Hakan101]

Unfortunately the rules state I cannot post in that thread. Can you please respond here.

I'll admit it, it's taxing enough already to respond to one person about this complex issue. I know you aren't allowed to post in the other thread, but since you can still read it, I'm going to ask you do that in place of me responding here. I think the other thread indeed has value to your questions. Other people have made good contributions too. I'm short on time at this moment, but if you have any more questions after reading it, I will gladly answer them here.

 

[Cieza]

I'll admit it, it's taxing enough already to respond to one person about this complex issue. I know you aren't allowed to post in the other thread, but since you can still read it, I'm going to ask you do that in place of me responding here. I think the other thread indeed has value to your questions. Other people have made good contributions too. I'm short on time at this moment, but if you have any more questions after reading it, I will gladly answer them here.

Let's look at your first post here:

From my own knowledge, the "does it witness to your spirit" question basically means do you feel it is actually from God. I usually recognize this if it touches my heart, and I will notice constant "repetitions" of the message. As in I'll hear it several other times throughout the day besides from a church sermon. It's the first indicator you are feeling the Holy Spirit talking.

This makes it sound as if it is subjectively measured. But what does "does it witness to your spirit" mean?
Is the human to whom God is communicating the ultimate authority as to whether the communication came from God? Or can it be determined objectively?


Next make sure it is fitting within the Bible's message. This isn't hard to do, thanks to the Holy Spirit. In fact I once met a man who claimed he rarely used the Bible in his ministry, he just learned to respond to the Holy Spirit.

What exactly do you mean by "Holy Spirit"?
When you say to "make sure it is fitting within the Bible's message", if "it" refers to the message one hears from God, then how can the recipient of such message know that the message came from God as opposed to it developing naturally - e.g. a gut feeling?

The third quote you put there, I'm not sure what it means either. I'll tell you what I've heard though. After it's witnessed to your spirit, and is part of the message, there are two other things. It has to be a positive calling. The Holy Spirit does not call us to do negative things. For instance, we would not be called to go and kill innocent bystanders. That is not what the Holy Spirit does, it is not in line with the Bible's message either.

Once again, what is meant by "Holy Spirit"?
If a human has a gut feeling about something and that feeling is in line with the Bible's message, would that be considered to be communication from God?

Lastly, the message you are hearing must be confirmed by someone else. For instance, the man I mentioned before who listens to the Holy Spirit, when he tells people what the Spirit has called him to do, they do not look at him like he's crazy and reject him. They always accept what he has to say. For instance, here is one of the stories he told our church. I actually found it online.

How can one have a message or communication from God confirmed by someone else?

 

[razeontherock]

These are actually very good questions:

[1] what does "does it witness to your spirit" mean?
Is the human to whom God is communicating the ultimate authority as to whether the communication came from God? Or can it be determined objectively?


[2]What exactly do you mean by "Holy Spirit"?

[3] When you say to "make sure it is fitting within the Bible's message", if "it" refers to the message one hears from God, then how can the recipient of such message know that the message came from God as opposed to it developing naturally - e.g. a gut feeling?

I'm not going to try to answer these just yet. I'd rather point this out, and see what others may have to say. I will just point out that the end of what I labelled as [3] above, is a false dichotomy. Gut feelings developing naturally are in no way necessarily separate from G-d leading us by His Spirit.

And the True Power of the Gospel is that this holds true for all of humanity.

 

[Hakan101]

Let's look at your first post here:

From my own knowledge, the "does it witness to your spirit" question basically means do you feel it is actually from God. I usually recognize this if it touches my heart, and I will notice constant "repetitions" of the message. As in I'll hear it several other times throughout the day besides from a church sermon. It's the first indicator you are feeling the Holy Spirit talking.

This makes it sound as if it is subjectively measured. But what does "does it witness to your spirit" mean?
Is the human to whom God is communicating the ultimate authority as to whether the communication came from God? Or can it be determined objectively?


Next make sure it is fitting within the Bible's message. This isn't hard to do, thanks to the Holy Spirit. In fact I once met a man who claimed he rarely used the Bible in his ministry, he just learned to respond to the Holy Spirit.

What exactly do you mean by "Holy Spirit"?
When you say to "make sure it is fitting within the Bible's message", if "it" refers to the message one hears from God, then how can the recipient of such message know that the message came from God as opposed to it developing naturally - e.g. a gut feeling?

The third quote you put there, I'm not sure what it means either. I'll tell you what I've heard though. After it's witnessed to your spirit, and is part of the message, there are two other things. It has to be a positive calling. The Holy Spirit does not call us to do negative things. For instance, we would not be called to go and kill innocent bystanders. That is not what the Holy Spirit does, it is not in line with the Bible's message either.

Once again, what is meant by "Holy Spirit"?
If a human has a gut feeling about something and that feeling is in line with the Bible's message, would that be considered to be communication from God?

Lastly, the message you are hearing must be confirmed by someone else. For instance, the man I mentioned before who listens to the Holy Spirit, when he tells people what the Spirit has called him to do, they do not look at him like he's crazy and reject him. They always accept what he has to say. For instance, here is one of the stories he told our church. I actually found it online.

How can one have a message or communication from God confirmed by someone else?

What does it mean to witness to our spirit? Does it penetrate our hearts, do we see the reality of it in our lives. Do we see the relevance in our situation. In the end, the person who hears the Holy Spirit calling must decide whether or not to respond.

What do I mean by Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is a part of God, the part that enables us to do great things of God. Those in tune with the Holy Spirit are able to preach and understand the word of God much better than others.

How can we use other believers to confirm a message from God? Knowledge of Scripture, reasoning, and prayer to God. The fellow believers may even hear the same calling as you, thus confirming what you had heard.

 

[Cieza]

These are actually very good questions:



I'm not going to try to answer these just yet. I'd rather point this out, and see what others may have to say. I will just point out that the end of what I labelled as [3] above, is a false dichotomy. Gut feelings developing naturally are in no way necessarily separate from G-d leading us by His Spirit.

And the True Power of the Gospel is that this holds true for all of humanity.

Are you saying that any message, feeling or instinct one receives or develops without understanding or knowing the origin is from God?

Do you consider God to be a living, breathing being with consciousness?

 

[elman]

When God communicates to us, "speaks" to us or sends messages to us, how do we know it is God?

If it is loving it is from God. Otherwise it is not.

 

[Cieza]

If it is loving it is from God. Otherwise it is not.

So if I get a loving message from an atheist friend of mine or perhaps an atheist friend of mine does something loving for me, then that would be considered to be communication from God.

 

[elman]

So if I get a loving message from an atheist friend of mine or perhaps an atheist friend of mine does something loving for me, then that would be considered to be communication from God.

It could be. I don't know that we can always be sure about these things. I think the closest we can be to sure is that if we are being told to hurt someone for the fun of it, that is not from God.

 

[Cieza]

It could be. I don't know that we can always be sure about these things. I think the closest we can be to sure is that if we are being told to hurt someone for the fun of it, that is not from God.

What do you mean it could be? Do you now have doubts?

Earlier you said any communication we receive which is loving must be from God. Therefore, if Richard Dawkins, Richard Carrier or Sam Harris (or any other atheist) communicates to us in a loving way, then that message is from God.

 

[aiki]

When God communicates to us, "speaks" to us or sends messages to us, how do we know it is God?

When God communicates to me it is primarily through His Word, the Bible. How do I know the Bible is the Word of God?

1. Its thematic unity given the nature of its creation.
2. Fulfilled prophecy.
3. Impact upon human history and civilization.
4. Its correspondence to reality.
5. Personal experience of the truth and power of its contents.

Is there extra-biblical communication God makes to His children? Yes, but I believe it is the exception rather than the rule. This is accomplished via His Holy Spirit which resides within every believer.

What is this communication like, exactly? It is a spirit-to-spirit thing that I believe is unique among human experiences. That is, it cannot be accurately described in terms of other experiences we have. Christians use phrases like "gut feeling," "a voice in my head," "an internal pressure" and other similarly vague descriptions to explain how God communicates outside of His written Word. While all of these may express something of the experience, it is not exactly like any of them. This is, of course, because it is God speaking, not our own inner voice, or our own intuition, or our own fears and/or desires. One important way of determining if it is God who has spoken to us is to check what we believe He has said against His written Word. God will never contradict Himself nor direct us in opposition to Scripture.

Selah.