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The liberal Christians frequently talk of "The Spirit" without anyone seeming to know what that actually means.
Depends on who you ask.
Is everyone supposed to think and believe the same thing? Or are the liberal Christians supposed to look to the fundamentalists for a definition of The Spirit? Would that be the Great Spirit or the Holy Spirit? Then there is the spirit of brotherhood and the various lower case spirits...
Last edited by DewDropInn; 01-08-2016 at 03:41 PM..
The liberal Christians frequently talk of "The Spirit" without anyone seeming to know what that actually means.
In what way is this used that you have heard? Can you give an example? I have an AA Baptist friend who talks about "the Spirit" guiding her or such, but she's more conservative than liberal.
In what way is this used that you have heard? Can you give an example? I have an AA Baptist friend who talks about "the Spirit" guiding her or such, but she's more conservative than liberal.
Among liberal Christians, it appears that "The Spirit" is the preferred guide for faith and belief, often in direct conflict with more orthodox views. The Spirit seems to be a reference to personal or group intuition. Not to pick on pcamps or zthatsmans, but if my memory is correct I have heard them use the term frequently. I also heard the the term frequently from other liberal Christian groups.
Yes, the more orthodox / conservative Christians also use the term, but usually for them "The Spirit" is a direct reference to the Holy Spirit, who is said to guide people toward Jesus, repentance, salvation, etc.
I'm not trying to say any of this is good / bad or right / wrong. I'm no longer any kind of Christian. I just think it's interesting how the different camps use their buzzwords.
The liberal Christians frequently talk of "The Spirit" without anyone seeming to know what that actually means.
You have been told enough times now that this has to be deliberate obtuseness or baiting, Freak. Stop it. The ONLY Spirit that matters is God and His Holy Spirit is agape love. It is the Spirit that Jesus brought to His human consciousness and which has returned as the Comforter sent in His name after His death. There is no confusion or ambiguity about what the Spirit IS or what it embodies. See: 1 Cor 13; the Sermon on the Mount, and Galatians 5 for examples of its characteristics. ANYTHING, whether in the "precepts and doctrines of men" or the Bible or anywhere else, that CONTRADICTS or is NOT compatible with agape love is NOT of God or Jesus.
Yoou have been told enough times now that this has to be deliberate obtuseness or baiting, Freak. Stop it. The ONLY Spirit that matters is God and His Holy Spirit is agape love. It is the Spirit that Jesus brought to His human consciousnes and which has returned as the Comforter sent in His name after His death. There is no confusion or ambiguity about what the Spirit IS or what it embodies. See: 1 Cor 13; the Sermon on the Mount, and Galations 5 for examples of its characteristics. ANYTHING, whether in the "precepts and doctrines of men" or the Bible or anywhere else, that CONTRADICTS or is NOT compatible with agape love is NOT of God or Jesus.
Maybe he is truly naive and has led an incredibly sheltered, protected life. Safe in the bosom of the fundamentalists away from books and the internet. Sort of like a Duggar.
"Are you saved?" is a question that makes me kind of nuts.
The first time someone asked me that -- it was a 8-year-old neighbor whose parents apparently had yet to teach her that it's not polite to discuss religion with strangers -- I had no idea what she was talking about. It's just not a phrase used by the Christians I know, or in the Roman Catholic community I grew up in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vall
"God won't give you more than you can handle".
Easy way to dismiss a suffering person without lifting a finger to help. Takes the Christ out of Christianity.
Thank you for that perspective. I dislike platitudes in general, but I never thought of this one that way. I'll strike it from my vocabulary forever.
Maybe he is truly naive and has led an incredibly sheltered, protected life. Safe in the bosom of the fundamentalists away from books and the internet. Sort of like a Duggar.
It's true that I know very little about liberal Christianity other than what I saw in college and see here on City-Data. Yes, I did grow up in a fundamentalist environment where I was locked away from the outside world, and it's been a slow painful journey out of that. Actually it was my self-directed exploration with books and the Internet that pulled me (kicking and screaming) out of fundamentalism.
As far as I can tell from anecdotal encounters, liberal Christianity is more about doing than believing, and beliefs seem to be left up to individuals rather than imposed by the church. Nothing wrong with that, but it is still pretty foreign to me.
Mystic, yes I have heard your assertions many times. It's not that I don't want to hear you. It's just that I have the same problem with your claims that I have with Vizio's claims and twin.spin's claims: they are extraordinary claims that have no evidence to back them up. So I don't take those claims seriously. It's not that I'm ignoring you or being obtuse.
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In what way is this used that you have heard? Can you give an example? I have an AA Baptist friend who talks about "the Spirit" guiding her or such, but she's more conservative than liberal.
