Telling Demons from God

[ElCodeMonkey]

If one "spirit" tells you X and another tells you NOT X, how do you know which is right? I imagine, for a lot of people, you'll likely say "well does it jive with the Bible?" Barring the fact that most things can be forced to jive if you want it too, how do we know it wasn't a demon who whispered the idea to take the Bible as God's word to begin with? What if that whole concept was a demon whisper and the God whisper is "ugh, listen to me, not the book!" and we unjustly turn away the God-whisper? Of course, it's just as possible that God is saying to follow the book while a demon says to follow him. So how does one tell them apart? How do you know which is God and which is demon and especially if disagreeing about the book itself? Why default to believing the "follow the book" one without a good reason? Please note, the book cannot give an authoritative answer on this. It could contain useful advice, but not with authority on the matter of determining its own authority. So how do you tell spirits apart?

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 1 by ElCodeMonkey]

If there is a loving Creator He will know that humans are like babies in traffic when it comes to the spirit world, telling us to just trust your intellect or follow your heart, is like giving your two year old the keys to your car.

Almighty God would have to prove who He is by a manesfestation of power that cannot be equalled by any lower being (spirit) and then communicate definitive and unalterable guidelines to be followed by all subsequent generations. Anything and anyone that deviates from those original guidelines then could be deemed as from the opposing camp by default. It's the only way.



JW

[ElCodeMonkey]

[Replying to post 2 by JehovahsWitness]

How would you know what God alone can do that other spirits cannot? Being babies in traffic, we can't possibly know what is possible within the spirit world for typical spirits. I suppose there could be a contest to see which spirit could do something another couldn't, but then we might just be comparing two demons' magic skills against each other rather than checking God at all. What could God do that a spirit could not that we could be absolutely sure was the case?

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 2 by JehovahsWitness]

How would you know what God alone can do that other spirits cannot?

Logic. If God is the Creator and source of all life, then only He could raise someone from the dead. Thus He or any agent He was using, would have to demonstrate such an ability.




JW

RELATED POSTS


Is there such a thing as "demonic trickery"?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 019#928019

Is there such a thing as a "good" spirit medium?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 265#943265

Can an encounter with a demon be a pleasant/pleasurable experience?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 072#836072

Who alone can distinguish between good spirits and bad?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 276#943276

[ElCodeMonkey]

[Replying to post 2 by JehovahsWitness]

How would you know what God alone can do that other spirits cannot?

Logic. If God is the Creator and source of all life, then only He could raise someone from the dead. Thus He or any agent He was using, would have to demonstrate such an ability.

I'm not sure how you come to the conclusion that only God can do that. How do you know spirits can't? Even still, if one spirit tells you the book should be followed and the other says it should not, you would expect one of the spirits to kill someone and resurrect that someone to prove their authority? Or is it good enough for the spirit to simply tell you they've done this in the past kinda like a survey or interview question? Also, I've seen a magician go through a wood chopper, blood and guts and everything, and yet come back to life! Clearly it was just an illusion, but could we really tell the difference?

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[JehovahsWitness]

I'm not sure how you come to the conclusion that only God can do that. How do you know spirits can't?

♦ L.O.G.I.C

If Almighty God is the Creator then there was no other life until He created it. Thus everthing and everyone is alive due to that life being sourced from an omnipotent God..

If the Creator is intelligent he would know that the transmitting of life is what makes Him unique as the uncreated "first cause" of all living things. In the event of rebellion, it would be that ULTIMATE ability that identifies him Him as Almighty. If He is loving and intelligent then he would wisely keep that ability to himself, since failing to do this would create confusion and ultimately suffering in a universe of intelligent creatures- especially if a section of that realm was invisible to another part.

So His signature would logically be unmatched power (should it come to a competition) and the ability to create life from nothing (ie raise a dead person back to life). As long as the Creator and life source is not evil or stupid the above logic must stand and the evidence is, He is neither.



Who alone can distinguish between good spirits and bad?
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 276#943276

What powers would uniquely belong to a loving Creator (this post)
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 287#943287

[ttruscott]

So how do you tell spirits apart?

By faith. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen / proven.


It is where we put our faith, our unproven hopes and trust that separates us all in our fates and our lives. What does the spirit say to you? Do you like it? Does it fit your understanding of things including the bible? Do you hope it is true enough to follow it?

This is all we can do. GOD on the other hand has promised some of us that we will indeed end in the heavenly marriage. This fate is HIS to bring to fruition no matter how many demons try to lead us astray.

Even being led down the garden path for a time is too our good when we learn from the experience and tighten ourselves to be careful and to seek diligently.

[ElCodeMonkey]

[Replying to post 6 by JehovahsWitness]

Well, you've given a form of logic for why resurrection would make sense as a test. I could come up with reasons to dismantle that, but first I'd like to hear if you had response to the remaining questions. You only responded to the first two sentences of my last post.

[ElCodeMonkey]

[Replying to post 7 by ttruscott]

If it's by faith alone simply by whichever one you "like" most, doesn't that seem rather dangerously problematic for simply following demons instead of God? How do you know your faith isn't misplaced because, being fallible humans, we might prefer what best suits our own fancy? I mean, it's a pretty good story to just say that faith is enough and we don't have to do anything of our own accord and BAM eternal life. How can we know that's not the whisper of the devil? Just faith because it sounds good sounds like a poor method to me. To each his own, of course, if that's where you stand, but I'd like to clarify if that's what you really mean.

[2timothy316]

The way we tell is what the ultimate goal for the two are. Jehovah God wants all to repent and live. (2 Peter 3:9). Satan and his demons want the exact opposite.