AustinC: "Utterly false. Any Mormon who reads the 66 books of the Bible will see that the God of Scripture is vastly different from the god of Joseph Smith. Feelings do not define truth. Facts fuel our feelings, but feelings never fuel facts. If you fuel yourself on feelings you will quickly burn out and stop functioning by faith."
AustinC: "You entirely miss Paul's point. Paul is addressing Christians who are being taught that they need to live their lives by the law, not by grace. They are being told that they can only experience God through the law, not by grace through faith.
Deadworm, your demand for an experience in order for God to be relevant in a person's life is simply a twisted variation of the Judaizers works experience. You are preaching a message that Paul would call "Anathema."
Unlike you, I've read non-biblical sources on the Judaizing Christians and know how they defend their version of the faith. But you miss the point: it is precisely because the Galatians are drawn away from life in the Spirit that they succumb to the demand for circumcision. Paul's challenge is the remind them of their initial "experience" of the Spirit that was accompanied by "miracles" (3:3-5), experiences which are a standard expectation in Paul's conversion theology. Though such experiences may vary, Paul routinely insists that claims to have the Spirit must be backed by an experience of divine power. Readers will notice how Baptists have ducked the Pauline texts quoted that demonstrate this point. Baptist claims based on cerebral faith without an experience of power to have the Spirit can amount to wishful thinking no different than Mormon claims of inner confirmation of the truth of Mormonism. God is sovereign and the Holy Spirit doesn't jump just because Baptists crack their whip!
This thread is need to demonstrate further what a truly charismatic life in the Spirit can be like.
AustinC: "You entirely miss Paul's point. Paul is addressing Christians who are being taught that they need to live their lives by the law, not by grace. They are being told that they can only experience God through the law, not by grace through faith.
Deadworm, your demand for an experience in order for God to be relevant in a person's life is simply a twisted variation of the Judaizers works experience. You are preaching a message that Paul would call "Anathema."
Unlike you, I've read non-biblical sources on the Judaizing Christians and know how they defend their version of the faith. But you miss the point: it is precisely because the Galatians are drawn away from life in the Spirit that they succumb to the demand for circumcision. Paul's challenge is the remind them of their initial "experience" of the Spirit that was accompanied by "miracles" (3:3-5), experiences which are a standard expectation in Paul's conversion theology. Though such experiences may vary, Paul routinely insists that claims to have the Spirit must be backed by an experience of divine power. Readers will notice how Baptists have ducked the Pauline texts quoted that demonstrate this point. Baptist claims based on cerebral faith without an experience of power to have the Spirit can amount to wishful thinking no different than Mormon claims of inner confirmation of the truth of Mormonism. God is sovereign and the Holy Spirit doesn't jump just because Baptists crack their whip!
This thread is need to demonstrate further what a truly charismatic life in the Spirit can be like.