Catching up ... on July 8, Allen posted, in part:
"So, if we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in our study, then we can rest
assured that the same truth which He inspired into the Bible, we can get out
of the Bible."
I responded:
"Whenever I see those magic words "you may rest assured," I immediately
suspect snake oil. I do not discount the HS, but the above is empirically
untrue."
Allen then asked:
"What, exactly do you believe to be untrue? That the Holy Spirit didn't
inspire the writers? That the Holy Spirit does not or cannot lead us to
understand the truth He inspired into the Bible?"
A fair question, Allen. Of course I had already acknowledged the working of
the HS. When I wrote "the above is empirically untru," I had in mind the
multiplicity of denominations, most of whom assert that the HS has led THEM
into the truth, and, by implication, all the rest are necessarily wrong.
If you read my earlier post today, you know that I and my family have been
favored by being part of at least ten different Protestant denominations as
we traveled around the country with IBM. In each of these I have found good,
devoted, scholarly, committed Christians. I could assume, of course, that at
most one set of these people were "on track" but that would necessarily
imply that the other nine were not "listening to the spirit." I cannot make
that assumption.
I do think that the HS does lead us into biblical truth, as far as the
essentials of the faith are concerned. But it is patently clear that he does
not do so wrt some truths, baptism for instance. Which leads me to conclude
that while baptism may be an important thing to God, He is not particularly
concerned how it is accomplished. That's just one example; Sunday or
Saturday (Sabbath) worship, communion rituals, Catholic vs Protestant vs
Orthodox, Young earth vs old earth, pre-mil vs a-mil vs post-mil, etc. etc.
All of these have dedicated Christians, led as best they can be by the HS,
convinced that they are right. They cannot all be.
Best
John
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