THE FIRST OF ANYTHING!

[Chris]

I was listening to Acts being read today on the radio and was thinking about how the events in Acts were some of the very first instances of things like that ever, like the day of Pentecost and the spirit coming onto the Jews and gentiles.

I know in the past when I want to know what to expect from God, I look in the new testament but these people didn't have that. They connected with God in some way that led and empowered them. I know it was the holy spirit but how did they connect like that?

I have wondered lately if too much knowledge inhibits simple trust and limits the ability to experience it. (science , physics, reason, rationale, theology)

I was thinking how it must also have been for the first OT prophets having visions etc, it must have been so weird for them, doing those things without a precedent to follow.

 

[Tina]

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Excellent thread, Chris ... I love it !


I agree that too much worldly things such as superior educational knowledge and expertise, career, family, friends, and coupled with pride and resistance to the flow of the Holy Spirit have greatly stifled revivals in many parts of the world today. We have a God Who is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), but He seems to showing up a whole lot more in Asian & African countries than in the West.

 

[mcorton]

Conflict leads to doubt. I worked for years in human services working with mentally handicapped and with at risk youth. This involved a lot of psychology courses. Psychology often disagrees with Chrisitanity. Psychologists disagree with each other. Even in Christianity there are a wide variety of disagreement. Some churches teach salvation is by grace alone by accepting Christ as Savior. Others teach that you also have to be baptised to be saved. Still others believe that you must have the baptism of the Holy Spirit to have your salvation. Some believe you can lose your salvation while some believe once saved always saved.

I said all that to say this. Too much knowlege doesn't really hurt you but conflicting views can. The believer who isn't strongly grounded in their faith can be easily swayed by the evil one. Through the Old Testiment God raised up prophets, judges and missionaries to spread the word of HIm. He spoke directly to them. Like today, some accepted their teaching while most rejected it.

 

[Chris]

Conflict leads to doubt. I worked for years in human services working with mentally handicapped and with at risk youth. This involved a lot of psychology courses. Psychology often disagrees with Chrisitanity. Psychologists disagree with each other. Even in Christianity there are a wide variety of disagreement. Some churches teach salvation is by grace alone by accepting Christ as Savior. Others teach that you also have to be baptised to be saved. Still others believe that you must have the baptism of the Holy Spirit to have your salvation. Some believe you can lose your salvation while some believe once saved always saved.

I said all that to say this. Too much knowlege doesn't really hurt you but conflicting views can. The believer who isn't strongly grounded in their faith can be easily swayed by the evil one. Through the Old Testiment God raised up prophets, judges and missionaries to spread the word of HIm. He spoke directly to them. Like today, some accepted their teaching while most rejected it.

knowledge is so important, as you said. to avoid pitfalls.

I am really good at starting a thread and not explaining fully what I' am thinking.

When considering the events in acts and the recipients of the holy spirit for the first time, most of them may have been uneducated as literacy was at about 5% or something like that.

With that thought in mind Imagine if when Jesus asked Peter to walk on the water, he battled probably all sorts of doubts about doing it. Imagine if he had ingrained in his mind our modern 8 years of education in physics, gravitational laws etc. He would have "known" you cant levitate, and it would have made faith harder.


I wondered hose early people who received the holy spirit had less presumptions of what the world should be, there was no history of this before and maybe the closer walk requires less of us limiting the holy spirit by our pre conceived ideas.

Imagine this scenario in the early church:

The spirit leads them to heal a man and before they do it one says " we better go to the synagogue to see if the book of Isiah ok's it. Might just double check Leviticus and psalms too just to be sure" " Nah cant be done... cant see it anywhere"


I feel for me in order to hopefully experience the holy spirit i need to try to forget my education a bit and not try to place limits on what can be done.

I wonder why couldn't the holy spirit do even more incredibly amazing things now through christians. It is after all the same holy spirit that raised the dead.

Could today be another first day?