Do Christians Believe they have received Divine truth ?

Divine truth is revealed in Scripture. However, any book may claim to be God's revealed word. It is the Holy Spirit that authenticates to us that the Bible is the true word of God, inspired, trustworthy and inerrant. Even those who reject the Bible know in their innermost being that they are rejecting the truth.

 

Freed from the bondage of Rome! I never grow tired of hearing that.

 

1) I think most people post their convictions according to what they've been taught. They cling to these like "guns and religion" and hold fast when challenged. It is hard to peel white knuckles away from the idols people trust in.

2) I think some are sparking debate by posting notions they don't necessarily believe are true. But find entertaining, particularly the atheists and alternative religious types.

3) I think anyone can notice the trinity as they read scripture. But studying the ecumenical creeds helps us to mine the depth of the doctrine.

 

Brother, I am not trying to pick on @JonC and I hope he does not take it that way. Both of us were going back and forth and I was just trying to make a point. If I were to enlarge your comment I would say that no one's opinion is binding on the conscience of anyone else. My prayer is that we are all people of the Book and that we diligently seek the truth it contains. Thankfully, God has provided gifted men who have produced valuable research tools that aid in that seeking, but it is the Word itself that is the final authority for all matters of faith and practice.

 

Dave, some do but it becomes subjective when we say "most people". I do not know what is going on in every single poster's mind. Judging motives is a dicey proposition. Even if we are right 90% of the time we are wrong 10% of the time and that 10% is a sin. Also, what if the convictions of others are correct? Not everything we are taught is false. How much of what you have been taught have you verified for yourself? The Bereans are an example of a group of people who did exactly that. They received the teachings of Paul and Silas and search the scriptures to see if their teaching was true (Acts 17:30).

 

I'm basing this on a majority of anti-trinitarians on many sites. Some Mormons, Oneness Pentecostal etc. It's nice here with little to bicker over. But not so nice elsewhere.

 

This is certainly true , The Holy Spirit leads is to Christ, (His only duty) The only way to God is through Jesus, There is no other way to God. Reject the work of either and one cannot know God

 

In a companion thought, How do we believe? Do you have to understand and teaching accept to believe? Do we believe in Faith?

 

This might sound unusual at first, but faith comes by hearing the word. And I've learned to tell the difference between head faith and Holy Spirit faith. So when Holy Spirit faith is present as it relates to certain scripture, I know I have a true grasp on it. If it is not present, I'm not understanding the passage. Head faith will deceive me into all kinds of false understandings because I'm in control of it. And can turn it on at will.

 

Do you have to understand something to believe it?

 

If they are posting the Scriptures themselves, it is Divinely revealed truth because that is what God's word is...His inspired word, revealed to and by His apostles, on the very pages.
If they are posting what they think the Bible says, then to me, they are posting what they think God has revealed to them.

If they are saved, then to me, they are posting "divinely revealed truth" in the sense that the Lord has revealed the Father to them ( Matthew 11:27 ), opened their understanding so that they might understand the Scriptures ( Luke 24:45 ), opened their hearts that they might attend to the things spoken of the preacher like the Lord did for Lydia ( Acts of the Apostles 16:14 ), begat them with the word of truth ( James 1:18 ) like He does for all of His children, made them a "spiritual man" instead of a "natural man" that is unable to discern the things of the Spirit ( 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 ), sealed them them with the Spirit so that they will ( eventually ) "know all things" and He becomes their Teacher ( 1 John 2:20-27 ) and makes it possible to rightly divide the truth the more they study it ( 2 Timothy 2:15 ).

In an unregenerate person, yes.
In a "babe in Christ" that is carried about with every wind of doctrine, I believe so.
In a spiritually mature believer?

"Religious notions" are cast aside in favor of truth.

I suppose that depends upon perspective.


If dealing with the "Trinity" ( God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit being One ( 1 John 5:7 ) and agreeing in one, and they state it the same way that it is stated in that passage, then I would think they are posting what God has revealed to them.

 

To respond to the OP in general:

In 2 Corinthians 11:26, Paul mentions the fact that he has experienced perils ( dangers ) among false brethren.
That there were some that would trouble believers and would pervert the Gospel ( Galatians 1:7 ), some who had been brought it unawares ( Galatians 2:4 ), in order that they might spy out the believer's liberty, false teachers among believers who privately bring in damnable heresies ( 2 Peter 2:1 ), and false apostles that Satan can make to look like the ministers of God ( 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 )

According to Matthew 13:18-23, there are people who hear the word of God and it either becomes unfruitful in them, or it bears true spiritual fruit ( Galatians 5:22-23 ).
According to Matthew 13:36-43, there are "tares" ( false brethren ) among the "wheat" of Christ's field, and that He has said: " Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." ( Matthew 13:30 )


So, there is no reason to believe that that hasn't changed from then until now, and based on my own personal observations, it's only become much worse over the centuries...especially in the latter half of the 20th and to present day.
Today, the churches are composed of both true believers and false ones...people who are saved, and people who only think they are saved.
People to whom Christ will say, "...Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:" ( Matthew 25:34 ), and people to whom He will say, " ...I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." ( Matthew 7:23 ), even though they thought they were doing the will of God and thought they were saved.

As a good example of this "mixture", I see that nowadays, most visible churches have abandoned biblical separation from the world and its ways altogether, and have adopted "baptized" forms of living worldly, while calling it "Christian".
Most have fallen away doctrinally into all kinds of error, and refuse to deal with it when confronted.
Most denominations are adopting "means" methods of getting people in the front door, instead of preaching the word and discipling those who respond in heart-felt conviction.
Most professing teachers deny things that the Bible clearly teaches...like the "Trinity", the "virgin birth" ( the Lord Jesus being born of the Holy Spirit ), Christ's Deity ( God coming down to us as a man ), Scriptural inerrancy, Scriptural preservation and all sorts of things.


Question:

Does anyone really think that the ones that are falling away into unrepentant error are God's Spirit-indwelt children who are refusing to obey Him over the long course of their lives?
I don't.
But even though Christ's sheep can, at times, be a mess and are not outwardly perfect, they do follow Him and they do grow both in knowledge and in grace ( 2 Peter 3:18 )...

"Goats" will not, when all is said and done.
They will follow the world, because they are not born again.
There is no one to follow, except their "father" the devil.


When Christians, both professing and "possessing" get together in any venue, whether in a visible body, on a message board, on Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else, there is always going to be a mixture of the two, at least in most cases.
So, one will post on what has been revealed to them by God, and one will post from their misunderstanding of Scripture and what the Lord has never opened their understanding to.

I realize it all sounds harsh, but I'm not desirous of avoiding what I see in God's word or in the world around me, so I post things as I see them.


May God bless you.