Board index ‹ Assorted Bible Questions

[William Hendershot]

If you don't believe that God would reveal the "truth" to the Pope, Vicar of Christ, then is there anyone on earth that God would reveal the "truth" to?

[jimwalton]

In the OT he revealed truth to the prophets. What he said is written for us in the Bible. In the NT he revealed truth to the apostles and the authors of the NT. What he said is written for us in the Bible. Therefore, God's truth comes to us through the Bible (Jn. 17.17). Beyond that, the Holy Spirit inside of all believers is a guide (Jn. 16.13).

[William Hendershot]

Could there ever be an issue that was not specifically addressed in the Bible that God may need to weigh in on? Perhaps stem cell research or cloning?

[jimwalton]

There sure are a lot of times we wish he could do that. The Scriptures, though, are not about God weighing in on issues, but explaining to us the legal contract between Him and us, with the benefits of compliance and the consequences for infraction. In the process, he uses the contract to reveal what he is like to us. That's what the Bible is. Obviously throughout the 1600 or so pages, he speaks to a lot of issues, but he rarely, if ever, speaks to them thoroughly and systematically, but only as they traverse the contract stipulations and examples, or come in to play as to his revelation of himself. The Bible is not God addressing issues. So irrefutably there are lots of issues that we wish God would weigh in on, but that's not what the Bible is about.

So, then, how are people to decide about these momentous, life-affecting issues?

- If God has spoken specifically about it in the Bible, then obey that.
- If God hasn't spoken about it by command, there may be principles in the Bible that help guide to a responsible answer.
- If God hasn't spoken about it by command or principle, a person is free and responsible to choose his own course of action, seeking the most godlike and God-pleasing path he can determine.
- In all decisions, a person should read the word of God for guidance, seek the wisdom of God through the Spirit of God in prayer, and make the best decision he or she knows how to make.

God has given to believers His Spirit inside them, to help them in these matters. He also has endowed us with brains, and he expects us to use them to their fullest extent. Our goal is always to please God and to reflect the values and ways of his kingdom as best we can determine them.

[William Hendershot]

Do you believe that God might answer the prayer of the Pope asking for clarification on a divisive issue?

[jimwalton]

Sure. He might. But we still must be interpreters of our thoughts, since we can so easily fool ourselves, and we must be interpreters of circumstances, since we're downright terrible at interpreting our circumstances. Aside from the word of the Lord to prophets, we all have to be smart about our own tendencies, "seeing what we want to see," and prayer. People think God "spoke to them" in prayer. Yeah, better subject it to checks and balances. People interpret their circumstances favorable to see an answer to prayer—extremely unreliable. Unless it's clear, learn to steer.

[William Hendershot]

Why are the prophets, and many other authors of the Bible who were spoken to in a dream, exempt from what you wrote above?

[jimwalton]

As far as we can tell, God didn't speak to the prophets via voices in their heads, that they said, "Hm. I guess God is talking to me." 2 Peter 1.20-21 tells us that the prophets didn't get their messages from inside themselves but from an external source, with the Holy Spirit bolstering them to deliver their messages. Inspiration in the ancient world was often associated with spiritual possession, frenzy, and ecstatic utterances. In contrast to what people knew of such practices out there in the world, associated with alleged divine oracles, Peter is saying that divine revelation was clearly not that. He claims that they were acutely aware that their message had its source in God and carried divine authority.

[William Hendershot]

I was planning to list the people in the Bible who God spoke to in a dream, but the list would be way too long and too much trouble. Just do a Bible search for the word "dream" and you'll see.

There are many examples of people who honestly believed (believe) that God spoke to them. They were acutely aware that their message had its source in God and carried divine authority. Most of them were dismissed or ignored, and some of them started new religions or added to existing ones. Some of them are included in the Christian Bible.

[jimwalton]

Yeah, I'm aware of all the dream revelation in the Bible, and that's legitimate. And I do believe that God speaks to people now. It's just awfully difficult to tell whether it was really a message from God, though, and one must proceed very carefully. We can so easily deceive ourselves. But I'm convinced that the revelations to the prophets/apostles were a very different entity/experience.