Location: Phoenix, AZ.: Baptized in the NAME of the Lord Jesus in 1982.
Posts: 2,065
Re: You find a piece of paper....
Quote:
Originally Posted by jfrog
Nope. But if your mother is no longer with us maybe you can replace mother with someone in your family that is still here with us. A sister maybe, or a father?
I could tell if a letter sent to Timmie from his mom, was REALLY from his mom!
OK, let's forget about that specific example. Forget the healing or lack thereof. Forget about the piece of paper, for now. Let's go to the basic, simple question, as stated in my previous post:
Can you tell if a claimed message from God is really from God?
categorically, no. i might go as far as to say that i would consider any 'message from God' to be in error, unless it just basically reiterates some Scripture relevant to the moment. Don't know about anyone else, but i am generally struck, in these messages from God, by a sense of the receiver's self importance primarily? "i got something special/extraBiblical from God for you," like that. Been guilty of it myself. With the best of intentions, of course.
Scripture indicates to me that an extraBiblical message of this type should/would come with irrefutable proof attached; Abram struck dumb, etc.
so, yes, i can tell, because game recognize game...
Nope. But if your mother is no longer with us maybe you can replace mother with someone in your family that is still here with us. A sister maybe, or a father?
Yes. I could tell if a letter really was from my mother.
Are you illustrating something like xman is alluding to? If I knew God, I could tell if a purported message really was from God?
Touche.
Except, those who claim to know God have vastly different descriptions of him, of what he wants, of what he says. They very often disagree with each other on purported messages' authenticity. Funny.
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
categorically, no. i might go as far as to say that i would consider any 'message from God' to be in error, unless it just basically reiterates some Scripture relevant to the moment. Don't know about anyone else, but i am generally struck, in these messages from God, by a sense of the receiver's self importance primarily? "i got something special/extraBiblical from God for you," like that. Been guilty of it myself. With the best of intentions, of course.
Scripture indicates to me that an extraBiblical message of this type should/would come with irrefutable proof attached; Abram struck dumb, etc.
so, yes, i can tell, because game recognize game...
The Bible is a purported message from God. And irrefutable proof of this kind of thing has likely never happened and probably never can. Being struck dumb is not irrefutable proof of anything.
Otherwise, good points. But, I don't get the "game recognize game" thing.
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
Yes. I could tell if a letter really was from my mother.
Are you illustrating something like xman is alluding to? If I knew God, I could tell if a purported message really was from God?
Touche.
Except, those who claim to know God have vastly different descriptions of him, of what he wants, of what he says. They very often disagree with each other on purported messages' authenticity. Funny.
I have an illustration but it will take a moment to develop. Can I ask how could you tell a letter was from your mother?
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The Bible is a purported message from God. And irrefutable proof of this kind of thing has likely never happened and probably never can. Being struck dumb is not irrefutable proof of anything.
Otherwise, good points. But, I don't get the "game recognize game" thing.
ah--a Boondocks reference, nevermind. And of course 'struck dumb' was for Abram only; the proof would be tailored for whatever hearer.
. . . And irrefutable proof of this kind of thing has likely never happened and probably never can. . . .
The Bible illustrates this perfectly in the duel between Aaron and Pharaoh's magicians. A rod turning into a snake is not proof, because it wasn't amazing enough. The magicians could do that, too. Is Aaron's snake devouring the magicians' snakes amazing enough? To some it is, apparently.
But that puts the believers into a tough spot: are they simply to believe that every amazing thing, at least if it's really really amazing, is from God? But what if some of those false signs and wonders are really really amazing? They are told not to believe them, but they are not told how to recognize them.
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
I have an illustration but it will take a moment to develop. Can I ask how could you tell a letter was from your mother?
Come to think of it, I couldn't really tell with 100% certainty that is wasn't a forgery. But in practical terms, I would just see the signature, and the content would be plausible as something she would write (easy to recognize her style ). I wouldn't normally have reason to suspect a forgery. Contrast that with all the claims of messages from God.
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
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