In my work as a pastor I have found people who never hear the voice of God and others who claim that God is a chatterbox who is never quiet. The one question many people want answers to is this: Is God silent? We would have to modify that to say: Is God’s normal behavior to be silent?”
The classic Baptist seminary answer is that God spoke, the valuable stuff he said was written down in the Bible and we do not need any other words from God. Certainly, there is not any additional revelation than what is revealed in the Bible. God can reveal anything he wants in eternity, but right now, while humans have the Bible, there is nothing extra biblical that we need to know. Therefore, if God speaks, or a prophet speaks for God, whatever they say must be consistent with the written text of the Bible.
I have read books by authors who claim that God, in the person of the Holy Spirit helps them find their car keys or warns them of an accident on the road. These seem harmless, but also confusing. If the goal of the Holy Spirit is to be our private helper then that seems to go against the Scriptures that say He will continue to the work of Christ, and there is no record of Christ helping people find things other than himself. Also, why does God help this one person and not others? One answer is that this person has more faith and I do, but that seems to be an unbiblical answer.
If we look at the narratives of the Bible and examine how often God spoke and to whom, we would find that God spoke rarely and to very few people. The book of Judges spans 300 years in Israel’s timeline. A judge pops up every 40-75 years on average. Most judges have no encounter with God. Gideon had several exchanges with God through his angel, but Samson never heard from God. It is clear that God answered Samson’s prayer in the end, but no conversations were held. In the book of Exodus, God clearly speaks to Moses and Aaron and a few others, but the vast majority of Israel never communicates with God, they were disallowed.
There is no teaching in the New Testament about carrying on a regular conversation with God. The Holy Spirit teaches and brings to remembrance and convicts and guides but in most cases this seems to be one-way, through the Bible and without supernatural words. As for me, I had a dream which was my call to the pastoral ministry. Jesus was in the dream and he talked to me. That was it, decades ago. I now hear God through his word, through other people and through circumstances. Sometimes I just know what to say or what to do. I can attribute that to the Holy Spirit, but it can also be a sanctified mind.
The classic Baptist seminary answer is that God spoke, the valuable stuff he said was written down in the Bible and we do not need any other words from God. Certainly, there is not any additional revelation than what is revealed in the Bible. God can reveal anything he wants in eternity, but right now, while humans have the Bible, there is nothing extra biblical that we need to know. Therefore, if God speaks, or a prophet speaks for God, whatever they say must be consistent with the written text of the Bible.
I have read books by authors who claim that God, in the person of the Holy Spirit helps them find their car keys or warns them of an accident on the road. These seem harmless, but also confusing. If the goal of the Holy Spirit is to be our private helper then that seems to go against the Scriptures that say He will continue to the work of Christ, and there is no record of Christ helping people find things other than himself. Also, why does God help this one person and not others? One answer is that this person has more faith and I do, but that seems to be an unbiblical answer.
If we look at the narratives of the Bible and examine how often God spoke and to whom, we would find that God spoke rarely and to very few people. The book of Judges spans 300 years in Israel’s timeline. A judge pops up every 40-75 years on average. Most judges have no encounter with God. Gideon had several exchanges with God through his angel, but Samson never heard from God. It is clear that God answered Samson’s prayer in the end, but no conversations were held. In the book of Exodus, God clearly speaks to Moses and Aaron and a few others, but the vast majority of Israel never communicates with God, they were disallowed.
There is no teaching in the New Testament about carrying on a regular conversation with God. The Holy Spirit teaches and brings to remembrance and convicts and guides but in most cases this seems to be one-way, through the Bible and without supernatural words. As for me, I had a dream which was my call to the pastoral ministry. Jesus was in the dream and he talked to me. That was it, decades ago. I now hear God through his word, through other people and through circumstances. Sometimes I just know what to say or what to do. I can attribute that to the Holy Spirit, but it can also be a sanctified mind.
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