I have spent many a long night meditating on how I know what I know and how sure I am that I know it.
Of a Truth, the only certain knowledge I possess is that which has been revealed to me by the Spirit. My own reasoning, my sensory perception and the counsel of men simply do not compare. They are not even in the same league.
In sum, a thing is True because God says it.
Of course all of this is foolishness to anyone who trusts his own mind, sensory perceptions or the counsel of men
But that is the question, isn’t it?
I have spent many a long night meditating on how I know what I know and how sure I am that I know it.
Of a Truth, the only certain knowledge I possess is that which has been revealed to me by the Spirit. My own reasoning, my sensory perception and the counsel of men simply do not compare. They are not even in the same league.
In sum, a thing is True because God says it.
Of course all of this is foolishness to anyone who trusts his own mind, sensory perceptions or the counsel of men
But that is the question, isn’t it?
Who do you believe?
= = = =
THX. I THOROUGHLY AGREE.
Been there, done that tons.
That advanced English class 12th grade reading all those classics and having to answer: WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE AND WHERE ARE YOU GOING? Was sooooo wonderful for me.
And WHO DO YOU BELIEVE is utterly crucial. THE FULCRUM. THE "Y" in the road.
Assuming that one's rational mind is the Mother of all truths is sheer idiocy--at a quickly-arrived-at-point.
And if and when satan et al begin to make reality itself seem utterly convoluted and awash in contradictions as plentiful as dust . . .
HEARING GOD AND KNOWING GOD AND KNOWING HE ALONE IS TRUTH ALONG WITH HAVING THE WORD HIDDEN IN OUR HEARTS AND MINDS--will be crucial.
IOW, it is absolutely a done deal, and you can take it to the bank. Praise God!
After Knee-Mail duties this morning I am reminded of this most basic of questions...
What do I know for sure, and do I merely think I know IT?..
I think I know some "things" but things judged by human eyes, ears, and other senses that can fool me.. not the least of which is "things" filtered trough a human brain..
Five blind zoologists inspecting a new creature might construct a strange creature in their minds from a not so strange one.. I've done similar things myself in my life experience.. Who hasn't?..
You know we(humans) "NEED" spiritual discernment.. for without it we operate in carnal delusion and maybe fleshly denial.. I say spiritual discernment because we can be prone to hear what we want to hear and see what we want to see.. and taste what we want to taste.. and feel what we want to feel.. And; many there be, that have developed the skills to provide those services to us..
Many, indeed, even require that people tell them what they want to hear.. to even put up with them.. They totally reject(in degrees) anything outside of what they want to hear.. or prefer to hear..
Spiritual discernment is not like that.. its even the opposite of that.. if driven by spiritual discernment then your own opinion means little.. Depending on the source of the Spirit..
But then, I am talking again about God and the Devil.. Funny how the subject of communication ultimately raises to talk of God and the Devil.. with humans being pawns in the gambits.. Humans must drive Satan nuts.. After all Satans work and effort and gambits.. mankind is so fickle and can turn on him(satan) in a New York minute.... over such silly reasons too..
What Satan overlooked and was not ready for from the beginning was.. spiritual discernment.. For there is discernment of evil(Devil) and discernment of good(God)..
Little wonder Jesus said "you MUST be spiritually Born Again".. maybe being born again is a spiritual cleansing, or house cleaning, or strengthening of discernment, or baptism of the spirit.. So then a different kind of communication can begin.. opening of a Knee-Mail account.. The only cost is humility.. and gratitude..
Your excellent posts reminded me of a few lines from Calvin's Commentary on Romans 11:34 as Calvin seeks to further understand Paul's use of the phrase "the mind of Christ." (Note also the word 'predestination' here simply means God's will and His plan for creation.) Calvin's comments regarding the Holy Spirit are remarkably similar to your thinking.
He (Paul) begins here to extend as it were his hand to restrain the audacity of men, lest they should clamor against God’s judgments, and this he does by stating two reasons: the first is, that all mortals are too blind to take a view of God’s predestination by their own understanding, and to reason on a thing unknown is presumptuous and absurd; the other is, that we can have no cause of complaint against God, since no mortal can boast that God is a debtor to him; but that, on the contrary, all are under obligations to him for his bounty. Within this limit then let every one remember to keep his own mind, lest he be carried beyond God’s oracles in investigating predestination, since we hear that man can distinguish nothing in this case, any more than a blind man in darkness. This caution, however, is not to be so applied as to weaken the certainty of faith, which proceeds not from the acumen of the human mind, but solely from the illumination of the Spirit; for Paul himself in another place, after having testified that all the mysteries of God far exceed the comprehension of our minds, immediately subjoins that the faithful understand the mind of the Lord, because they have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which has been given them by God, by whom they are instructed as to his goodness, which otherwise would be incomprehensible to them. As then we cannot by our own faculties examine the secrets of God, so we are admitted into a certain and clear knowledge of them by the grace of the Holy Spirit: and if we ought to follow the guidance of the Spirit, where he leaves us, there we ought to stop and as it were to fix our standing. If any one will seek to know more than what God has revealed, he shall be overwhelmed with the immeasurable brightness of inaccessible light. But we must bear in mind the distinction, which I have before mentioned, between the secret counsel of God, and his will made known in Scripture; for though the whole doctrine of Scripture surpasses in its height the mind of man, yet an access to it is not closed against the faithful, who reverently and soberly follow the Spirit as their guide; but the case is different with regard to his hidden counsel, the depth and height of which cannot by any investigation be reached.34. Who has known the mind of the Lord?