Well, I thought I had things all figured out. But now I'm not so sure...
This morning I sat down to read my Bible, and I was just going to open it at random and start reading. But, when I opened it, I found the little brochure that has the "Bible-in-one-Year" verses, so I chose to read today's selection: Deuteronomy 34:1-12.
And, you can imagine how stunned I was when I read verse 9:
"Now Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him, doing just as the LORD had commanded Moses."
Okay... So, now what am I supposed to think? That's the second reference to someone laying hands on someone else, and the someone else receiving a gift of the Spirit.
Huh...
Guess I've got some more searching and praying to do! I'll let you know what I find! :-P LOL
Well, are you sick of hearing about Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code", yet? I'm getting there.
I've really been looking forward to the movie, despite the fact that my family is up in arms at me about it. They say it's "heresy" and "blasphemy". Well, yes, the book / movie is very blasphemous. But, I still look at it as a work of F-I-C-T-I-O-N and for that fact (minus the bit about Jesus and Mary Magdalene), I love it! I've read the book twice!
Today I was reading the threads on a Christian women's forum I belong to, and they were talking about The Da Vinci Code (DVC). Most of them are totally against it. They refuse to buy the book or read it because that would be 'supporting the devil's work'. Well, hmmm... On the one hand, I want to agree with them. But, on the other hand, I don't. Yes, the book is full of controversial issues (duh...), but by reading it myself, and by reading companion books like Bart Ehrman's "Truth & Fiction in the Da Vinci Code" (or even his other book, "Lost Christianities"), I feel that I can talk about the DVC without ignorance. I know what the book says and I know the TRUTH! I've read God's Word, and I've read Mr. Ehrman's work, and I don't believe a bit about the Da Vinci Code!
If you want to know why I don't think that Jesus & Mary Magdalene had a child, click here to read my other blog entry about it! ;o)
One lady on the forum based her opinion on Philippians 4:8... "Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." She asks, "Does 'The DVC' measure up to those standards?" Well, no. It doesn't. It's not 'true', it's not 'pure', and it's not 'honorable'. Therefore, this lady says, we should avoid it at all costs! And, she has a point ...
Regardless, I'm of the camp that says we shouldn't 'fear' Dan Brown's book (or movie), but that we should see it as an opportunity to educate the world about the history of Christianity, and the TRUTH ("You shall know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free!" ~ John 8:32)
Well, I've been researching this issue of the Spiritual Gifts, and how you come by them, a lot in the last couple of days. And, I've read some pretty interesting articles. None has specifically said *how* you come by the gifts (other than that the Holy Spirit gives them, and that He is the one who chooses who gets what gift ~ see 1 Corinthians 12:11). But, I think I'm getting an answer to my question: Do you have to have someone lay hands on you and pray for you to be able to receive a Spiritual Gift?
After reading several websites, I read this verse:
1 Corinthians 12:11 ~
"All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines."
So, if the Spirit gives a gift "to each one", how would those who've never heard of this 'condition' of needing someone to lay hands on you be true? Not everyone would know about that ~ I didn't until the other day. But yet, the Word says that "each one" gets a Gift.
Romans 12:6-8 says:
"In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly."
This verse seems to say that we, as believers, already *have* our gifts. See the use of "past tense" -- "God has given us different gifts" -- not present or future tense. Nowhere in this passage does it say you need to have hands laid on you before you can do these things.
So, I think I'm going to stick with the belief that you *don't* need to have someone lay hands on you to receive these gifts. Maybe it helps, but I don't think it's necessary.
(*Please note, though, that I'm not condemning anyone who still believes in the laying on of hands for the receiving of a Gift. If you believe that, that's fine. I'm only posting what I've come to believe is true through my search of Scripture*)
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Now, I want to also mention that I *do* think God wants us to search out what our gifts are. 1 Corinthians 14:1 says, "Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives..."
The gifts are given so that we can build up the church, not so we can edify ourselves. 1 Corinthians 12:7 says, "A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other." (note: again it says we EACH receive a spiritual gift!)
Our purpose on earth is to please God (Hebrews 11:6; Colossians 1:16), and to "go into the world and make disciples" (Matthew 28:19), so edifying the body of Christ (church) is just a part of that ... anything that helps build one another up will, eventually, assist us in spreading the gospel! At least, that's how *I* see things. :-?
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Lastly, it's important to point out that NONE of this matters if we don't have LOVE. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 says:
"If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing."
So, without Love, all of it is pointless, anyway. :o)
Today my friend came over, and she and I had a good chat over tea. She told me all about what she's been learning regarding the Spiritual Gifts.
In case you don't already know what those are, they're mentioned in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11...
"There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so that we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages [tongues], while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all of these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have."
So, to sum up, these are the gifts:
- wisdom
- knowledge
- great faith
- healing
- miracles
- prophecy
- discernment
- speaking in tongues
- interpretation of tongues
Now, my friend was talking about how she has come to believe that the Spiritual Gifts are only given to a person when someone who is 'anointed' lays hands on that person.
My friend was quick to clarify that, each person who calls on Jesus and becomes "Born Again" receives the Holy Spirit at that moment of conversion. But, it's not until the 'laying on of hands' that the person receives their "Gift".... this is what she is starting to believe.
My friend also backs up her claims with both Scripture (see below), and with personal experience. She says that she knows a few people who've claimed to want the gift of speaking in tongues, and then they've had someone lay hands on them, and were blessed with just such a gift!
The Scripture she quoted was:
Acts 19:5:
"As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied."
Now, I'm not sure what to believe. On the one hand, because she's had *experience* with watching people be blessed with a Gift after the laying on of hands, I want to believe that it's true. And, when she first brought the verse in Acts to my attention, I believed it to be pertaining to what she was talking about. If the Scripture says it, it must be true!
But, now I'm a little skeptical. I mean, what about all of those books about "discovering your spiritual gifts"? What about all of the courses offered through churches that help you discover your gifts?
And, this verse in Acts says "the Holy Spirit came on them" before it says anything about gifts.
This second one, though, is something my friend talked about. She said that, when someone lays hands on you, you're, in a sense, "topped up" with the Holy Spirit -- you already had Him since your conversion, but when you are given the Gift(s), you *overflow* with the Holy Spirit. It's hard to explain, and hard to understand. :-?
In 1 Corinthians 14, it talks about the gifts of Speaking in Tongues, and Prophecy. It says we should *desire* the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives. This tends to lead back to what my friend believes ... as if they're not immediately with the believer upon conversion. That you have to *desire* them, and *ask* for them ... and then you'll be blessed with them.
Anyway. It requires more thought, and lots of prayer. I'll be praying for clarity on this issue. :o)
Personally, I at one point wanted the gift of Tongues. I've seen several of my friends speak in tongues, and this friend that was over today has the gift of Tongues. It's really cool! And, the ability to commune with God in His own language just seems wonderful! So, I think that, yes, I'd like to have that Gift.
But, I've always wondered whether or not I have the gift of Prophecy. Reason being is that I have a lot of "prophetic" type dreams. A lot of my scary dreams have come true in one way or other (one very close to the tragedy of the WTC attacks!), and that makes me curious. That's another reason why I question the idea of the Gifts only being bestowed upon having hands layed on the believer. I've never had anyone lay hands on me... :-?
Well, anyway. Enough for now. I need to "chew" on this a bit more. ;o)
Yesterday, while reading an Email from Blessings Christian Marketplace, I came across a blurb that was quite enlightening:
Singer/ writer Tim Neufeld (of the band, "Starfield") says of the new album ["Beauty in the Broken"], "The underlying theme of the CD is the idea of looking through the everyday and into the sacred... the idea that the sacred IS the reality, and not the earthly. It's about us fitting into God's reality and not the reverse…" The songs are the full range of the human response to this kind of grand theme… abandonment, surrender, apprehension, doubt, joy and more…
Whoa. How true is *that*?! That this is GOD'S REALITY, not ours! That really put things into perspective for me. It reemphasizes the same thing I've heard over and over in the past 6 years: It's not about ME.
In my Sunday School class, this past Sunday, a friend said something pretty profound ...
"If you're struggling, it's because you're not completely surrendered to God."
Whoa. I am *constantly* struggling, and surrender is one of the things I have such a hard time with. I want to be the one in control. I want to make things go my way. But, it rarely happens like that, anyway.
"In his heart a man plans his course,
but the Lord determines his steps." ~ Proverbs 16:9
Surrender is a hard lesson to learn, but it's an important one. Without surrender, we wander aimlessly, wondering how to get out of this problem or that, and yet God is patiently waiting for us to turn to Him, hand over the keys, and say, "Okay. You're right. I can't do this. YOU drive!"
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and
lean NOT on your OWN understanding.
In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He
will make your paths straight."
~ Proverbs 3:5,6
Today, while doing my Bible study homework, I had to read through the entire chapter of Isaiah 53 in the Bible (I use a New Living Translation).
In Isaiah 53, Isaiah is talking about Jesus and His death on the cross for our sins. Well, when I read Isaiah 53:8, I had to stop, go back, and read it again...
"Unjustly condemned, He was led away. No one cared that He died without decendants, that His life was cut short in midstream..."
Why has no one seen this verse before? I've read books that debunk the myths of Dan Brown's book, "The Da Vinci Code" (my favorite being Bart D. Ehrman's "Truth & Fiction in The Da Vinci Code") but, to the best of my knowledge, I'd never come across this particular verse before.
And, yet, this verse totally debunks the claim that Jesus & Mary Magdalene had a child and that the bloodline continues on to this day, kept secret by a secret society!
You can't argue with the Word of God. It's the truth, and "the Truth will set you free!"(John 8:32)
On Sunday, March 26, 2006, my pastor gave a sermon titled "Don't Miss the Party". And, I didn't write down much from that sermon, except for a part that really struck me as powerful...
"If you say you're going to be a marathon runner, but then never train or run, you're not really a runner ... it's the same with being a Christian."
Then the pastor asked: "Is your faith real? Is it just words, or do you live it out daily?"
Whoa. Do I live my faith? Probably not much. Do I put effort into being a Christian (a *follower* of Christ), or do I just say I *am* one?
Hmmm... Things to ponder...
Some people talk of having had a changed life at their conversion ... that they felt automatically filled with the Holy Spirit ... that they felt a lightness & freedom. I never had that experience. Life went on as per usual, and nothing really changed. I never felt *different*.
Why am I different in this, though? Why no "sha-bang!" conversion experience? Sure, I had my "rebirth" experience: I lived 12 years of my life under the label of "Christian" without really knowing what it meant to be one. It wasn't until I stumbled, and God saved me, that I truly understood.
Sometimes, in my head, I believe that I can be a better Christian if I just try harder. Other times I know, in my heart, that I don't have to try. I just have to be willing to let go ... to hand over the keys and let God drive. So, if I know the truth, why don't I do it? Why do I stubbornly try to hang onto control, when I know it's impossible to do so?
Here are some quotes from "A Third Testament" by Malcolm Muggeridge ... I'll add my thoughts later, once I've had a chance to chew on these for a bit! ;o)
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p.37 - "O greedy men, what will satisfy you if God Himself will not?" ~ St. Augustine
"There's nothing so powerful in drawing the spirit of a man downwards as the caresses of a woman." ~ St. Augustine
p. 58 - "How few things there are which can be proved. Proofs only convince the mind. Who has ever been able to prove that tomorrow will come, and that we shall die? And yet, what could be more generally believed?... In short, we must rely on faith when the mind has once perceived where truth lies, in order to quench our thirst and colour our minds with a faith that eludes us at every moment of the day." ~ Blaise Pascal
p. 79 - "Jesus Christ did nothing but teach men that they only loved themselves, that they were slaves, blind, sick, unhappy and sinful; that He had come to deliver them, bring them light, sanctify and heal them; that this would come about through their hating themselves and following Him to misery and death on the Cross...
...It is the heart which is aware of God and not reason. That is what faith is: God perceived intuitively by the heart, not by reason..." ~ Blaise Pascal, from his "Penseés"
p.86 - "...the only reality in life has been from the beginning of time, and will be until the end of time, a spiritual one called God." ~ the author, re: William Blake's belief
"I am wrapped in mortality, my flesh is a prison, my bones the bars of death. What is mortality but the things related to the body, which dies. What is immortality but the things related to the spirit, which lives eternally. What is the joy of Heaven but improvement of the things of the spirit. What are the pains of hell but ignorance and bodily lust, idleness and devastation of the things of the spirit..." ~ William Blake
p. 90 - "To see a world in a grain of sand
and a Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."
~ William Blake
p.95-96 - "Everyone who, like Blake, has a passion for goodness cannot but in some degree hate morality; just as lovers of freedom hate laws, and lovers of truth hate dogma...
...The truth is that in our imperfect, mortal existence, morality is a condition of goodness, as law is of freedom, and as dogma has been of the survival of our Christian faith." ~ the author
p. 134 - "Is not the truth of the matter really this, that man is just like a child who would rather be free from being under his parents' eyes. Is not this what men want? To be free from being under the eyes of God?..." ~ Søren Kierkegaard
p. 138 & 143 - "Kierkegaard modestly called himself a Christian Auditor: 'An apostle proclaims the truth, an auditor is responsible for discovering counterfeits.' And, therefore, he has to have been in his time a bit of a counterfeiter himself." ~ author re: Søren Kierkegaard
p. 164 - "...Tolstoy observed that only in his own tiny circle of the educated, rich and mostly idle, did people take so despairing a view of life. The others, the muzhiks [peasants], went about their work, got up in the morning, and lay down at night with a sense that life was essentially good, however arduous and full of hardships it might be for them. Likewise, when the time came for them to die, they were ready to close their eyes and depart without fear or recrimination. They, who had so little and knew so little, were at peace with themselves and with the world; it was the others, who had so much and thought they knew so much, who despaired... The difference? The muzhiks had faith..." ~ the author, re: Leo Tolstoy
A few days ago I got a copy of Blaise Pascal's "PENSEÉS" ("thoughts") out of the library. I've been browsing through it, and I find it fascinating.
I'm not agreeing with *everything* I've read in the book, so far -- he's a Jansenist, I'm a Baptist; we're bound to disagree on certain things -- but other points I'm thoroughly agreeing with. I find myself wanting to read passage after passage to my husband. LOL
A quote I liked from the chapter entitled, "Fundamentals of Religion and Answers to Objections" - #446 [68-510] -
"Man is not worthy of God, but not incapable of being made worthy of Him. It is unworthy of God to unite Himself with miserable man; but it is not unworthy of God to rescue man from his misery."
It is true that we're not worthy, but that God *makes* us worthy! He made us worthy when He took our place on the Cross at Calvary! Hallelujah! All we need to do is accept His *free* gift!
More on Blaise Pascal to come....
I've been thinking that I want a place where I can ramble on about the things I'm learning from my books. Not like reviews (I have a blog for that already), but a way to discuss what insights I've found, and what the books have prompted me to seek out, etc.
I'm thirsty for Truth. I've sought it out in places where Truth is supposed to be a given, and yet I've been burned more than once. That's not to say that I'm giving up on those places entirely. I just need more.
Thank the Lord for books! ;oP
I may not always be profound and intelligent in my ramblings, but to put down in words what is going through my head helps me to sort out those thoughts, and make sense of things a bit.
