Is It Possible To Know When the Holy Spirit Is Guiding You?

[jgh7]

The bible says the Holy Spirit will be your guide. So, to Christians, how has the Holy Spirit guided you? What do you precisely attribute to the Holy Spirit? What did it do that was outside of your own volition? How do you know it was the Holy Spirit doing this and not your own self?

I am skeptical of people claiming that the Holy Spirit guides them. I am more inclined to believe that it is their own conscience. That is why I ask these questions.

If I had to sum all this up with one debate question, the title would be it. What I would like to see thusly is your best explanation to prove that the Holy Spirit has guided you rather than just you alone guiding yourself.

[Realworldjack]

And again, you have failed to answer the questions I have posed. I really do not understand this, since you have claimed the number of people who have experienced the supernatural, "numbers in the millions!"

You joined this thread by trying to refute some of my views. Among your replies, was the view that spiritual gifts and divine revelation ceased since the 1st century. Now that I've refuted your main points about spiritual gifts/revelation, you claim that "you don't understand this".

I am good company since even the Catholic Church and many Protestant denominations accept that spiritual gifts continue today. If you want to convince me, you will have to do it by showing me that your views can withstand objections.

If you would like to start another thread concerning the "spiritual gifts" I will be glad to participate, as I have time. However, since this is not the topic of this thread, and will certainly veer us far of the topic, I have asked you two simple questions that pertain directly to the topic of the thread.

At this point there seems to be at least one other person who is interested in your answers, so it would be great if you could answer them, because at this point you seem to be avoiding these questions.

If you think I am avoiding the subject of the, "spiritual gifts", here is something I have posted while I have been waiting on you to reply to my questions, and as I said, "there seems to be someone else now who is interested in your answers.
ref:Re: Is Matthew 21:22 blatantly wrong?

If you would like to respond to the post above, on that thread that is fine. But could you please answer the questions we now have, on this thread? It would be much appreciated!

[PghPanther]

[Replying to post 34 by theStudent]

In my experience, I have seen many Christians claim to be guided by the Holy Spirit. The funny thing, however, is the fact that many of them tend to hold completely different specific beliefs. Surely, this would imply that not all of them are indeed guided by the Holy Spirit, if any. If they were guided, surely they would hold the same beliefs regarding faith? A prime example of this is ttruscott who on many occasions has claimed to be guided by the Holy Spirit, yet holds beliefs that I have never heard of before. The only rational conclusion to his claim then is that either he is the only person I have ever met who is in fact guided by the Holy Spirit, or he isn't. Personally I believe the latter to be statistically far more likely.

Any Christian who claims to be guided by the Holy Spirit makes a bold claim since it would assume that any Christian who does not agree with his version of Christianity is automatically wrong

and its far worse than that for the Christian................see when a believer claims that the other person's Holy Spirit guidance is in fact heretical and not of the Holy Spirit then it would be of Satan in their world view...........and if they claim this and are wrong then they have committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit (as outlined by Christ in anyone attributing to Satan what is God's work through the spirit can never be forgiven).............what a mess huh?

Its like Christians must walk through a spiritual minefield when discussing differences of Holy Spirit guidance that conflicts to the point of heresy with each other...........

Good luck believers.......and have fun with messing up your salvation.

[JehovahsWitness]

I agree that not all Christians can be the one "true" kind of Christian, whatever THAT is.

My point exactly. Conflicting beliefs and actions are not proof positive that nobody is fully conforming to the norms and beliefs attributed in the bible to the teachings of Christ.

JW

[rikuoamero]

I agree that not all Christians can be the one "true" kind of Christian, whatever THAT is.

My point exactly. Conflicting beliefs and actions are not proof positive that nobody is fully conforming to the norms and beliefs attributed in the bible to the teachings of Christ.

JW

The obvious problem is how can we confirm that anybody is fully conforming when we can't agree on what the norms and teachings actually are?

[JehovahsWitness]

I agree that not all Christians can be the one "true" kind of Christian, whatever THAT is.

My point exactly. Conflicting beliefs and actions are not proof positive that nobody is fully conforming to the norms and beliefs attributed in the bible to the teachings of Christ.
JW

The obvious problem is how can we confirm that anybody is fully conforming when we can't agree on what the norms and teachings actually are?

The norms and teachings of Christ are generally accepted to be those outlined in the bible; anyone with access to one can confirm what they are, they don't need anyone's agreement to do this. (Confirmation is not subject to agreement. If one person confirms that the earth is a globe but nobody is in agreement with him does that mean that there isn't ANYBODY that knows the true shape of the earth?) My point is the prevalence of ignorance does not negate the existence of knowledge; it is illogical to suggest that the absence of "agreement" is proof positive that no conformity exists.

JW