Monday, May 21, 2007

Ouch!

Do you believe in what the bible (God) says is true? Or do you believe in what someone tells you the bible says to be true?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd like to first answer that with a question:

Do you believe the Bible is exhaustive with respect to the knowledge of God? Does it reveal with radical clarity everything there is to know about God, or all that ever was, is, or will be with respect to what is seen or unseen?

Personally, I don't. I believe that God is constantly revealing himself to us through a great variety of sources.

michelle said...

i agree that God can speak or reveal to us through many outlets, people, other authors, etc.

However, if someone tells me or i read of something that states the bible says something to be true. I am not just going to believe it. I will follow up with scripture in what is said, shown, or discussed. Thanks for the discussion!

michelle said...

umm I don't think that i believe the bible to be "exhaustive" to the knowledge of God. I believe that the bible reveals with radical clarity what I need to know at the moment i need to know it. I believe that the bible tells me enough about God to know that God is love and what I need to do to serve Him.

I know that I can call him and he will be there for me. I know that even when I do not know what to ask for he has given me the Holy Spirit to intercede on my behalf. Romans 8:26-27

What I know outweighs what I don't know. And like I mentioned. If I really need to know it, (God thinks I can understand it) then I will know it.


Isaiah 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

Thanks for making me think some more!

Anonymous said...

Ironically those questions did not come from me originally, but from an author of a book I read in October 2004. I fully fleshed out my thoughts over a year later in this post.

I think we both conclude that God won't reveal more to us than we can handle at any given time. As a result, we are all at different levels of understanding.

Great discussion today. See you this weekend!

Anonymous said...

I think that if the foundation of your faith is not rooted on God's Word, then you are not rooted on a firm foundation! God does reveal himself to us in many ways, but so does Satan. No one should tell you or even give you examples on how you should believe or what your "doctrine' should be, that should come from God's word! I believe that until your faith has been tested and that you question everything you ever believed in and why, you have no faith to call your own.. and the only way I found the true truth was thru God's word. God gave us the perfect guide for our lives which is the Bible and he also gave us minds of our own to either chose to believe or not.... I think that you should be careful when choosing other means of learning how to live your life. If it doesn't say pray more, serve more, be accountable more, love more but know that with even loving we STILL have accountablilty then it's just junk. And with the Bible there is no fear of, is this true or just an opinion no one is going to tell me what to believe or think but my Father in Heaven.

Anonymous said...

Why go to church if you can't receive direction from someone else?

michelle said...

Well I am going to answer your question russ. I believe we need to go to church to be "guided" by the leaders there. But where ever they are leading I need not just be following. I need to ask questions and I need to look it up in the bible myself to see if what is said is true! Those leaders are not going to be standing with me before God on judgement day. I will be held accountable all by myself and what if I had been taught or directed wrong? I will be held accountable for not asking questions or reading God's word to learn if it was true or not!

The bible also says in Hebrews 10:25 "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

Surrounding ourselves with Christians is an awesome way to learn and get guidance. But a believer cannot give them their faith. They will have to "find" that. And how will they find that if they are only being spoon fed and not given the meat of the word to digest on their own? But I and other believers can "guide" them with scripture and insight.

Great question and ya had to make me think again early in the morning (well early for me) Oh and hey why do you keep answering with a question? hee hee ;-)

Anonymous said...

I'm right there with you. I just wanted to make the point that we can learn from others. There are people out there that read the bible daily and would swear it says that God Hates Fags.

That doesn't make it true.

We should be open to the Spirit at all times. I've heard God talking to me through a book, a song, a pastor, my son. The Bible is ultimate truth, but it certainly isn't the end of the story.

ps. I've found that questions keep my faith active and make it stronger.

michelle said...

Yeah I see your point. And people think the bible says that having money is evil!!!!! It is the sin not the sinner that God is not happy with. It is even hard to understand that all sin is detestable to God where here we say oh it's only a lie not something terrible like murder. Or we say well let me tell you something cause I am concerned and it is really gossip cause of your heart.

And ironically i was just talking to someone last night that we learn sooooo much from our children. We need to be like them more.

And one last statement cause i have got to do things for the party this weekend. I like to ask questions too, so I can play devil's advocate! But I usually banter with Vincent and he usually tells me why do you have to see it from that perspective. well i don't I just want to think for myself and look at things from all angles!

Anonymous said...

Why go to church if your faith is not your own and your true foundation is not the Bible? Aren't all churches based on the Bible? and yes I can most definetly be lead by other people and can be inspired but I also have a mind of my own and my own personal relationship with God so I will not be following some other mans word mindlessly. We can all agree that God works thru others words and actions but if you do not have a good solid foundation you can be lead astray. So be careful on what you believe test the waters to make sure these are statements from God and not deceptions from Satan.

Anonymous said...

So do only adults and saved believers belong in church?

(Another question... I've got issues!)

michelle said...

uh no i don't believe so. to me a church is like a hospital or a doctor's office. You can go there for wellness visits and you can go there for information, referrals, and support. And you can go there to be healed! But I am not saying that you only go for annual visits. see in my previous comment about meeting together regularly. Hope my analogies make sense.

Jesus even states in Matthew 9:12-13 "it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. but go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners."

Anonymous said...

Now your just being silly Russell, we all need church for support and direction,hopefully people are nutured first by God's word and children develop faith from their parents faith, eventually they hopefully grow into their own faith. We as a church family need to be sure that we are all accountable to each other for our sins.