Conversations With God?
We are seeing a lot of problems today caused by professing Christians who are running around claiming to have heard various nonsensical things from God. This is an introduction to the subject.
Bob is your average everyday Christian. He is one of the many Christians who is convinced that he is able to have extra-biblical verbal two-way conversations with God (in real time) right inside his head. He believes that he can pray and ask God any question and God will answer him back right away inside his mind.
Bob prays and asks God, “Can I marry Janet? Is she the right woman for me?” He then immediately thinks he hears God say, “Yes, you should marry Janet. She is the one for you”. No Scripture verses come to his mind, no truth from God’s Word pops into His head. He recalls nothing from the Bible. He doesn't sense any impression or leading (for or against his request) based on Scripture. He just believes he hears an isolated answer floating out there inside the space of his mind with absolutely nothing to back it up, no wisdom and no truth from Scripture.
Did this man really hear from God? No. Why? Because not only is this man's communication with God highly suspect, but also because (and I haven’t mentioned this until now), Janet is already married. We know God forbids Christians to marry someone who is already married and such would obviously also be adultery and against the law. God never instructs or leads anyone contrary to His written Word. It is clear that this man supplied his own “yes” because that is the answer he wanted to hear.
The next day Bob is walking down the street. He runs into his old girlfriend Becky and they get to talking. He decides that he really likes her much better than Janet and asks God if Becky is really the one he is supposed to marry instead of Janet. He makes the same mistake and is again convinced that he hears God saying, “Yes you should marry Becky. She is the one for you.”
What’s wrong with this picture? Did God change His mind? Was God originally mistaken? Is God wishy-washy or indecisive? Is God ever wrong? Of course not!
This man has simply been talking to himself and he has been supplying the dialogue for both sides of the conversation!
God does not contradict Himself and He certainly never gets anything wrong. God sees the end from the beginning. If God chose to speak to this man in some kind of inner-audible conversational way (which is very unlikely because it is unlikely that God even spoke to the inspired Bible writers in such a casual conversational way), and even if Janet was single and unmarried, God would have certainly said no regarding at least one of these women because a man cannot have two wives.
Bob did not hear from God in either case. He generated those answers in his own head. And he cannot prove otherwise. (This component of proof is a major key that I plan to explore at a later time.) This man, like so many others today, has been asking God for specific extra-biblical words to come into His head in a real-time inner-audible way.
Nowhere in the Bible do we see any Scripture that supports or promotes the idea of anyone seeking and getting answers from God in the form of a one-on-one, back-and-forth, real-time conversation with God in their minds.
There is also no support for the idea of God answering questions or prayers in an emphatic immediate verbal way in one's mind. I am not aware of any examples in Scripture of anyone conversing with God inside their heads, except possibly in the case of Old Testament prophets, and the Apostles who received inspiration from God to pen the Scriptures. But even then we are not sure exactly how that worked or exactly how those holy men received that communication from God. And I think to assume that communication was casual, conversational and in real-time stretches credulity.
Yes, God can and often does give Christians impressions and leadings according to His written Word, where for example, that person may experience a lack of peace regarding a course of action that is contrary to Scripture. That would be a very real yet subtle way that God can communicate with His people in a “still small voice”. But there is no support for the idea that God invades and takes over the minds of man.
Also, God can and sometimes does use dreams and visions to warn of a particular danger or course of action, but to think He speaks in specific custom words (just for us) opens up an even bigger problem: any such communication from God would then be the Word of God and so would be on par with Scripture and we know that no new Scriptures are being written. The Bible is complete and the canon of Scripture is closed.
A Simple Test
In your mind, ask yourself a simple yes or no question (e.g. Should I go here...?, Should I do this...?, Should I marry so and so?, etc.)
Then think this as the answer in your mind:
“Yes”.
Now ask yourself that very same question again, and then think this as the answer in your mind:
“No.”
This proves that you are in control of your own thoughts. You are supplying the answers for both sides of the conversation. If God was supplying those answers you would not be able to control them or change them.
There are many variations of this test that are possible. You could have prayed and asked God those same questions, but since this is only a test (and so you don't really mean it), then you might feel that doing so would be disrespectful towards God. So If you feel uncomfortable testing this as a prayer method, then I would avoid doing so. Otherwise if you run this test as a prayer method test (which I don't think God would mind), and if you ask God those same questions and then think those two different and conflicting answers just as in the example above, you will find the same exact results will occur. God will not stop you and He would have to stop you and not allow you to change the answer if He was truly speaking inside your mind.
ChristiansFree.com
We are seeing a lot of problems today caused by professing Christians who are running around claiming to have heard various nonsensical things from God. This is an introduction to the subject.
Bob is your average everyday Christian. He is one of the many Christians who is convinced that he is able to have extra-biblical verbal two-way conversations with God (in real time) right inside his head. He believes that he can pray and ask God any question and God will answer him back right away inside his mind.
Bob prays and asks God, “Can I marry Janet? Is she the right woman for me?” He then immediately thinks he hears God say, “Yes, you should marry Janet. She is the one for you”. No Scripture verses come to his mind, no truth from God’s Word pops into His head. He recalls nothing from the Bible. He doesn't sense any impression or leading (for or against his request) based on Scripture. He just believes he hears an isolated answer floating out there inside the space of his mind with absolutely nothing to back it up, no wisdom and no truth from Scripture.
Did this man really hear from God? No. Why? Because not only is this man's communication with God highly suspect, but also because (and I haven’t mentioned this until now), Janet is already married. We know God forbids Christians to marry someone who is already married and such would obviously also be adultery and against the law. God never instructs or leads anyone contrary to His written Word. It is clear that this man supplied his own “yes” because that is the answer he wanted to hear.
The next day Bob is walking down the street. He runs into his old girlfriend Becky and they get to talking. He decides that he really likes her much better than Janet and asks God if Becky is really the one he is supposed to marry instead of Janet. He makes the same mistake and is again convinced that he hears God saying, “Yes you should marry Becky. She is the one for you.”
What’s wrong with this picture? Did God change His mind? Was God originally mistaken? Is God wishy-washy or indecisive? Is God ever wrong? Of course not!
This man has simply been talking to himself and he has been supplying the dialogue for both sides of the conversation!
God does not contradict Himself and He certainly never gets anything wrong. God sees the end from the beginning. If God chose to speak to this man in some kind of inner-audible conversational way (which is very unlikely because it is unlikely that God even spoke to the inspired Bible writers in such a casual conversational way), and even if Janet was single and unmarried, God would have certainly said no regarding at least one of these women because a man cannot have two wives.
Bob did not hear from God in either case. He generated those answers in his own head. And he cannot prove otherwise. (This component of proof is a major key that I plan to explore at a later time.) This man, like so many others today, has been asking God for specific extra-biblical words to come into His head in a real-time inner-audible way.
Nowhere in the Bible do we see any Scripture that supports or promotes the idea of anyone seeking and getting answers from God in the form of a one-on-one, back-and-forth, real-time conversation with God in their minds.
There is also no support for the idea of God answering questions or prayers in an emphatic immediate verbal way in one's mind. I am not aware of any examples in Scripture of anyone conversing with God inside their heads, except possibly in the case of Old Testament prophets, and the Apostles who received inspiration from God to pen the Scriptures. But even then we are not sure exactly how that worked or exactly how those holy men received that communication from God. And I think to assume that communication was casual, conversational and in real-time stretches credulity.
Yes, God can and often does give Christians impressions and leadings according to His written Word, where for example, that person may experience a lack of peace regarding a course of action that is contrary to Scripture. That would be a very real yet subtle way that God can communicate with His people in a “still small voice”. But there is no support for the idea that God invades and takes over the minds of man.
Also, God can and sometimes does use dreams and visions to warn of a particular danger or course of action, but to think He speaks in specific custom words (just for us) opens up an even bigger problem: any such communication from God would then be the Word of God and so would be on par with Scripture and we know that no new Scriptures are being written. The Bible is complete and the canon of Scripture is closed.
A Simple Test
In your mind, ask yourself a simple yes or no question (e.g. Should I go here...?, Should I do this...?, Should I marry so and so?, etc.)
Then think this as the answer in your mind:
“Yes”.
Now ask yourself that very same question again, and then think this as the answer in your mind:
“No.”
This proves that you are in control of your own thoughts. You are supplying the answers for both sides of the conversation. If God was supplying those answers you would not be able to control them or change them.
There are many variations of this test that are possible. You could have prayed and asked God those same questions, but since this is only a test (and so you don't really mean it), then you might feel that doing so would be disrespectful towards God. So If you feel uncomfortable testing this as a prayer method, then I would avoid doing so. Otherwise if you run this test as a prayer method test (which I don't think God would mind), and if you ask God those same questions and then think those two different and conflicting answers just as in the example above, you will find the same exact results will occur. God will not stop you and He would have to stop you and not allow you to change the answer if He was truly speaking inside your mind.
ChristiansFree.com