| Does God Really Speak Today? |
| Written by Matt Tague | |
| Wednesday, 07 October 2009 | |
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Many people want to know if God still speaks to us today. The Christian answer comes down to two simple alternatives: Yes or no. There are lots of intelligent people out there who disagree on this subject. My own answer is an unqualified YES. Allow me to tell you why.
Many people want to know if God still speaks to us today. The Christian answer comes down to two simple alternatives: Yes or no. There are lots of intelligent people out there who disagree on this subject. My own answer is an unqualified YES. Allow me to tell you why. We could all think of examples of TV preachers or a wierdo who tell everyone that God speaks through them, and we are all very skeptical about that. But, just for argument's sake, let's throw those extreme examples out and reason the matter out more closely. Let's ask the question, "Does God really speak to believers today apart from the scriptures?" The people that answer "no" to this question usually cite examples of someone claiming that God spoke through them and it was wrong or it harmed a person's faith. That is a powerful experiential argument. If someone claims to speak for God and they are wrong, it gives God a black eye in the minds of the people around that person. But that is no reason to believe that God doesn?t speak at all anymore. Think about this: God has always used two instruments in the life of his church: First, the Holy Spirit and second, the Bible. Some people interpret the Bible wrong but does that mean we throw it out? No way. In the same way, some people interpret the Holy Spirit wrongly in what He is doing or saying, but that doesn?t mean that the Holy Spirit is not with us or speaking to us. The Bible and the Holy Spirit work together in our lives. We don't possess a 100% fool proof method of interpreting what the Bible says or what the Holy Spirit says, especially about thorny ethical or moral questions. But just because we can't be 100% sure of what they say all the time doesn't mean that they are silent. We can't be sure of what our best friends say some of the time, but we don't write them off because we can't always understand them. The fact that there are abuses or disagreements about what the Holy Spirit is saying doesn't mean that we should cut off all belief that he speaks today. A Bible passage to support the speaking role of the Holy Spirit is found in John 14:6. "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads you into all truth." If God the Holy Spirit really is inside of us after salvation, then he must speak to us. If he speaks to us, then God still speaks to us today. It doesn't make sense that the Holy spirit is our advocate, helper, and comforter but that he never says anything to us. God does speak to us today. Listen to his voice. The Article Author: Matt Tague is a pastor in California. He loves helping people learn to read and enjoy the Bible. Find out more by going to his web site. |
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