Posted on 01/05/2019 1:38:54 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear has recently tackled the question of whether God still speaks to people audibly as described in the Bible.
In a video posted by The Gospel Coalition, Greear discussed the question by noting that he has “never been comfortable putting God in a lot of boxes that He doesn’t put himself in.”
“I don’t know of anywhere in the Bible that says, ‘no, He will absolutely never speak audibly again to man on the earth,’” explained Greear.
“I will say that the Bible does indicate that the way that His Spirit speaks is obviously through the Scriptures, in these last days, God has spoken to us through His Son and this includes the writing of the Bible.”
Modern believers “shouldn’t expect we’re going to hear from God the way the apostles did,” he said, adding that the Bible has “ambiguity” about how God spoke to the early church.
“In Acts … the Holy Spirit shows up 59 different times in the Book of Acts, and 36 of the 59 He is speaking. Now, what’s a little frustrating for me about this is that it never exactly tells us how He speaks,” he continued.
“It doesn’t say. And I think that ambiguity is intentional because God does not want us to have the assurance that He is saying things that aren’t written in the Bible because more havoc has been reaped of the church following the words ‘God just told me’ than probably any other phrase in Christian history.”
Despite the ambiguity, Greear explained that he believed it was “clear that God still speaks,” but noted that this includes the Bible and that with the Bible, Christians “don’t need additional voices or things like that.”
Pastor Tim Challies of Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto, Ontario, also made similar comments in a blog last summer titled “How God Speaks To Us Today.”
Challies noted that the Bible was a key way that God still spoke to people in the modern day, saying that “God can guide us in many ways but today the Son speaks to us through his Spirit in the Bible,” adding that “God does not promise that he will speak in any other way.”
“In other words, we can all expect and believe that God will speak to us through the Bible. But he does not promise to speak in the ways he has spoken before, or in new ways,” wrote Challies.
“Of all the ways we may hope or long for him to speak, he promises only that he will guide us by his Son, through the Spirit in the Bible.”
Yes. He still communicates to His children.
Anyone can talk to god, but if he speaks back, you probably should keep it between you and your psychiatrist.
I agree with not putting God in constraints that the Bible doesn’t put Him in.
That said, if someone says “God told me...such and such”, I am very interested in whether they heard him the way I hear my family when they are speaking to me.
If they didn’t, then I know they are asking saying that they believe God impressed something upon their spirit. They could be right, but I’d be perfectly justified in waiting for confirmation.
It isn’t often, but when God speaks to me He does so quietly and with economy of words. Clearly, to the point and once only.
That is how I recognize it. I have learned not to dismiss or ignore it.
Yes, personal experience
Utterly life changing
And Unmistakably True
No. He has already spoken for this dispensation. There isn’t anything for Him to add anyway.
"I will never tell God what He can and cannot do."
End of story, case closed.
I think he speaks to the 2 witnesses lying dead in Jerusalem.
He says something like “Come up here.”
You could argue a different dispensation, but it is on earth, on this side of the cross, and prior to Jesus’ touching down on Mt Olives
Greear is a bozo designed to attract young hipsters. Southern Baptists don’t have a leader. The SBC is basically a way to jointly conduct missions and mass produce sunday school books. It has zero authority in any sense most religions would understand it. And last, if they did have a “leader”, he would be unable to back this position up biblically.
“I do not believe in organized religion, I’m a southern Baptist...”
Audibly?
“Revelation when applied to religion, means something communicated
immediately from God to man. It is revelation to the first person
only, and hearsay to every other, and, consequently, they are not obliged
to believe it. It is a contradiction in terms and ideas to call anything a revelation
that comes to us at second hand,”
Thomas Paine.
“The age of reason”
And he goes on to say questioning someone’s “revelation” is no different than Thomas wanting to see the nail scarred hands. Jesus did not rebuke him for that.
More than once?
“”I will never tell God what He can and cannot do.”
Exactly. And be somewhat suspicious of anyone who thinks they can.
He CAN; He can do anything. He doesn’t. That’s why he sent the Holy Spirit and provided His written Word.
Most of my conversations with God are... Internal, not audible
The Single Event I spoke of was profoundly different
It was as if the sky, earth, and all of creation was “Less”
And the Voice was full of Kindness, Authority, and Awareness, of Suffering
And When He Spoke, my awareness of the Creation was unalterably changed
It was so TRUE that I can’t make a model of the universe without taking it into account
It is hard to explain because my words are too small, I am insufficient
I once read that if God sends a dream, it must be received 3 times to be accurate.
My wife and I lost our first baby just before she was due. This was nearly 50 years ago.
Around a year ago I had a dream which seemed different than any I have ever had. It was in color but that is common with me. The colors were muted and the entire vision was soft.
I saw Jesus clad in loose robes. He was holding that baby. She was also wrapped in loose cloth. The only thing I could see was her wiggling feet.
Jesus handed her to his Mother and told her to take care of her.
I told my Daughter about it and she is convinced it was a vision.
I am not sure. I prayed that the vision be repeated so I can know for sure. It has not been repeated.
I will say that it was comforting.
RE: They could be right, but I’d be perfectly justified in waiting for confirmation.
And how do we know that the belief is confirmed?
When the Holy Spirit spoke to me of my need for a Saviour, it was not through the ear gate. He spoke directly to my heart. When the Holy Spirit directed me to preach the gospel, it was not through the ear gate, it was directly to my heart. God does not need to speak to us audibly in this age as we have the Scriptures which speak to us as taught to us by His Spirit. Seeing as God will not contradict Himself, if I heard audible voices from God it would do one of two things, either confirm what His Word already says which would make it superfluous or contradict what God’s Word already says, which means it wasn’t God speaking.
Food for thought.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.