What do you think about "personal convictions" that some Christians may have?

Question

What I'm specifically getting at is not about Christians who try and impose their personal convictions on other Christians or people in general,...

...rather what I am asking about is do you think that there is a "break down" statistically speaking of Christians to whom God has spoken a personal message to them about His will for their lives and Christians who have misinterpreted a passage from the Bible?

Like, does the Holy Spirit give personal "applications" of Scriptures to Christians for their own lives that are "valid" but they don't really fit the exact context of the Scriptures that they get the conviction from?

Answer 1

Yeah, I am having a bit of trouble understanding what you are asking, so if I mis-interpreted the question, forgive me.



I think there are definitely all kinds of Christians who have misinterpreted a passage, and may apply that in some odd way to their lives. I also think that some Christians do indeed have a certain feeling of "purpose" or a "plan" that God did put into their minds (or spoke to them by the Holy Spirit if you will).



I think the Christians who misinterpret things are likely those who simply opened up a bible, saw a verse, took it out of context or misinterpreted it, and then believed in their mind it was their purpose or will (or had some application to their own life).



These are likely wrong, because they only got the idea by incorrectly looking at a scripture, and not a true feeling or conviction from their own minds. In other words, the feeling came from the back door of the mental mis-interpretation, instead of the front door, which was the Holy Spirit. I think this accounts for a lot of the confusion and false doctrines in the world today, as well as false preachers.



Then there are those who feel like it is their purpose or plan to do something, not necessarily based on scriptures, but on several strong feelings and signs in their life, which has sprouted out of a strong faith in God, long time of study the scriptures, and observance of life and God's force in it. I think these are geniune.



I have kinda been thinking a bit about this lately. Like I have been watching a lot of documentaries, and one thing that stands out is a lot of people felt like they were made to do something, and it came true. John D. Rockefeller felt as if God had created him to make money, and he was the richest man in his time (he was a Christian).



That is what I truly love about biographies. You can often see how all of the events in a person's life led and molded them into the person they needed to be in order to accomplish God's will for their life. Unfortunately, whild you are living life in real time, it can be hard to make those connections.



I often wonder what will come of my life, and I have always felt as if I may accomplish something big. But sometimes I have doubts and failures, and it causes me to question myself and God's plan for me. But I try to stay positive, keep studying the scriptures, and keep an optimistic attitude that "all things work for the good of those who love God."



EDIT: Yeah, I think your example could be false or true. But as long as it is helpful, doesn't go against the bible, and doesn't harm anyone, I don't think it really matters whether it was from God or just a mistake.



In that example, smoking anything is harmful, and it would be good to eliminate the behavior. If you place sports teams above God, then you should maybe take them less seriously.

Answer 2

It's okay to have personal convictions as long as it lines up with the truth in the Bible. We should be getting words from the Lord as we seek him Nothing wrong with that, but if it's foolishness and they are using "a word from the Lord" as they say it in order to do the wrong thing, that's foolishness and wrong of course. LIke the excuse to smoke weed or whatever. They could make Christianity look bad and unfortunately there are many who are doing this. They claim to be a Christian and they are not living the life.

Answer 3

You are not going to believe this but Last Wed night in the Adult Bible Fellowship class, Pastor was speaking on just exactly That Topic, The Key is to understand that each of us is on a Different Spiritual level than the Other, especially concerning the issue that you brought up.



A Book that will help you about this is Watchman Knee The Spiritual Man



All 3 Books on this can be read for free here at this link



http://www3.telus.net/trbrooks/SMCFP.htm

Answer 4

I'm not very sure I understand your question.



The Holy Spirit leads Christians unto truths, there's not a difference in personal truths and over all church truths.



I think there are many self-proclaimed Christians who are misled by the own wickedness. Especially the ones who claim God spoke to them because we are know God speaks through His holy word.





In the example you gave then yes. I believe it's very possible.



Any truths we think we gleam from God should be backed up with the bible.

Answer 5

I believe the answer to personal convictions lies in Rhema.



Some Pentecostal Christians view Rhema as the voice of the Holy Spirit as he speaks to the believer at the present moment. In this sense, the Christian should be guided by the Holy Spirit as he/she is guided through inner feelings, impressions, dreams, visions, and signs. God's Rhema, the direct words of God to the individual, can also be imparted through the words of others, such as a preacher in a worship service, or a friend who counsels them. In this sense, God's direct guidance can be determined by a variety of means.



The test of the authenticity of a Rhema from God is simple... How does it compare to the whole of Scripture? Orthodoxy says that God will not speak a word that contradicts His written word, the Scriptures, so there is a built-in safeguard to prevent misinterpretation.



By contrast, Logos is typically used in Scripture to refer to what God has said to His people, that is, the collection of God's sayings about Himself, His relationship with His creation and His Church. The Logos of God is true for all time and in all places. It is easy to see how this can be interpreted both as the bible (God's Word Written) and in the Person of Jesus Christ (God's Word in the Flesh) as seen in John's Gospel, Chapter 1.



The Holy Spirit often uses passages in the Logos of God to create specific guidance, Rhema, for the individual. An example of the Rhema of God is to consider how several different people can read the same passage of Scripture and each sees something different. This occurs because each person is in a different place spiritually in their individual lives so God's word to each of them in that moment of their lives is different - specific to their needs. The Logos (God's original meaning and intention) has not changed, but the Holy Spirit has used it to speak to each according to his or her needs



Some Non-Pentecostal Evangelical Christians, however, have a much different understanding of rhema. Many evangelicals see rhema as being almost synonymous with logos. In other words, the specific guidance we receive from the Holy Spirit at any given time can only be discerned by the general principles laid down in the written word - the Bible. But this sort of guidance is not the same as that described above - it can only give general guidance about how the decision should be made.



If we used the same example of the Christian wondering about when to start their business, the evangelical would argue that God will not give any specific guidance - it is up to the person to work it out for themselves. What God can give guidance on is on how that business should be run, and what the business actually does (Running a Brothel, for instance, would be wrong).



For evangelicals, then, the rhema is when God speaks directly to a person as they apply the Bible's teaching to a specific subject. Some Evangelicals do not believe that the Christian may make up their own mind when there is no Biblical teaching on a situation. However, this will never come up because these Evangelicals believe that there is a biblical teaching on every situation, specific or otherwise.



God bless <)))><

Answer 6

as the holy spirit is not the author of confusion, 1 cor. 14;33 .it is possible for people to receive a calling of the spirit, but only to lead them away from their present situation towards the truth .

and that truth is only found in the one church that jesus started 2000 years ago.

'ask and you shall receive, seek and you fill find, knock and the door will be opened to you."

think about it

Answer 7

there's a huge fake effect with regard to the "call" of God that Christians consult from, what they have "chanced on" interior the old testomony or what we call the Torah. This fake effect stems from being unfamiliar with the Hebrew language and being unfamiliar with the maze-like series of translations and mistranslations from Hebrew to Greek to Latin to French/early-English, and so on. The "unspeakable" call of God interior the Torah is represented by the 4 consonants Yud, Hay, Vav and Hay. In early Hebrew (in the previous the discovery of the diacritic equipment of dots, dashes and traces that characterize vowels), those 4 consonants served double-accountability as vowels as nicely. because of the fact the "call" of God isn't meant to be reported ( or is meant to no longer be reported), there ought to no longer be a extra useful abbreviation or image for this call than a series of four vowels. What ought to be extra unpronounceable than a series of vowels? subsequently the fake effect. Later Christian readers of early translations observed those letter and assumed that THIS became the secret, own call of God. It became normally translated and spoken as Jehovah or Yahweh. there's a various etymology of direction, yet this could be comparable to somebody announcing the abbreviation for pound, this is "lb.", as some thing like "Lib" or "Lub". there's a bigger little bit of fake effect this is likewise normally linked with this. human beings normally state that the secret call of God became no longer right away "forgotten" by the Jews. How might this make experience? First using reason above. And 2nd, it does not make experience that the persons who first more suitable a plausible alphabet that everybody (no longer in basic terms expert scribes) ought to apply might "ignore" such an substantial element as God's call. So, there is not any suited or incorrect thank you to pronounce God's call; it particularly is not meant to be reported.

Answer 8

People are selfish so they narrow their perspective and twist words...either that or they hallucinate, which is a sign of mental illness.



This isn't hard...

Answer 9

Dear Friend,



ABSOLUTELY! That is exactly what the Holy Spirit ...does. He "convicts" us, then..."convinces" us that what we do, say, etc. is not pleasing unto the Lord so we can "repent"...stop doing it and turn in His direction, not our own.



Psalm 139: 23, 24 "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

24 And see if there be any wicked way in me (anything that is displeasing to you), and lead me in the way everlasting."



Interesting how you brought up cigarettes. I remember when our pastor told us one Sunday morning, "If God is not #1 in your life, someone or something else is, and that is your...god. When you wake up in the morning, what is the first thing or person you THINK of. That...is YOUR god and if you were to die right now, you would NOT SEE the face of God, because you have ANOTHER god."



I went home and cried like a baby. I KNEW the Lord ...the Holy Spirit cut at my heart and was speaking to ME. That my smoking, was MY GOD! I cried out on my knees to God and asked me to HELP me. That He and I had been together too long on His awesome journey and my relationship with Him ...that I WANT TO SEE HIS FACE when I die and Him be PLEASED with me."



Every night I prayed, for Him to help me take away this NASTY habit that was "separating" us. I LOVED to smoke. I had been smoking 3 pks. of cigarettes (name brand) for 30 years. I even told the Lord I would smoke "generic" until I quit. I prayed for Him to help me for one solid year.



THEN... IT HAPPENED!! Now, you can believe me or not. I don't care!! HAHAHAHA But this IS what happened. My son's and I had just gotten home from church. I was putting out my last cigarette in the ashtray. I HEARD a voice ...INSIDE me say, "It is finished." I FROZE!! I couldn't move. I KNEW what I heard. And just to be sure it was the Lord I said out loud, "LORD! But that is what you said on the Cross?" I then heard, "It is complete." I started to giggle. I KNEW it was the voice of the Lord. But I still had to be ...SURE!!! That it wasn't myself saying this. HAHAHAHA Does that make sense? Sooooooo,



I said, "Gideon (in the Book of Judges) needed to make sure that it was you talking to him, and you didn't get mad at him for asking. So Lord, you know that when I wake up in the morning, I'm going to want my coffee and a ....cigarette." Nothing. He spoke no more.



I lay in bed that night on my back just praising and laughing out loud to the Lord. I'd cry, then I'd laugh. Suddenly I had a bad headache. Never get headaches. But, I fell asleep with a pounding on the side of my head. In the morning, just as I began to be conscious. I didn't open my eyes, because I noticed something STRANGE. I WASN'T BREATHING ON MY OWN! My chest was going up and down, but I wasn't doing it. The whole rhythm of my breathing was...DIFFERENT. Tears began to role down my cheek. Jesus was breathing NEW LUNGS into me. I opened my eyes and just smiled. I KNEW. I KNEW what was happening. Finally, after a few minutes, I began to breathe on my own. I got up and praise the Lord for HIS GOODNESS!! THEN..smacked my lips. Looking for the taste of nicotine. Nothing. I mean NOTHING! THEN...



it was time for me to have my ...coffee. Ruh roh. What was going to happen? Went in the kitchen...got my coffee, went to my desk and sipped and waited. Sipped and waited. NO DESIRE for a cigarette. NOTHING! I said, "Lord, you know I have to go to the corner store to get cat food, and that's the store where I ALWAYS buy my cigarettes. No answer. I get dressed ...go to the store, get the cat food, walk up to the counter where the little oriental woman would always check me out and she already had cigarettes out for me to buy. Hahahaha. I said, "Mary! I don't need those anymore. Jesus took away my smoking last night. Hahahah It's GONE!" She was so adorable. She said, "Oh (my name), I wish Jesus come and take my husband's smoking away. He smoke too much." We laughed and off I went. FREE from the bondage of smoking. FREE from the lies of Satan. FREE in CHRIST!! That my friend, was over 14 years ago...and never once, even through the trials and tribulations I have had to endure since, never...have I ever had the desire to smoke...again. All praise, honor and glory to the One who was. Who is, and Who is to come. MY SAVIOR!!

Answer 10

They were on hallucinogens, most likely.



either that or they are lying.