The mystery for me is the Holy Spirit -- who is "in" the world, yet somehow not of the world. This is the Third Person of the Holy Trinity -- that is, God.I continue to meditate on that issue. Ronzo has had some wonderful things to say regarding the Holy Spirit recently. Maybe he can shed further light -- and also you, marron, and Alamo-Girl.
With that inspiration in mind, I decided to create a little article outlining my thoughts and beliefs in regard to the Holy Spirit, and how we as Christians are to relate to him. By no means is this a comphrensive treatment of the Holy Spirit, just some theological points that I feel are most important (to me, anyway...)
Please feel free to post any questions, comments, concerns or corrections.
My article is an attempt to be extremely practical and biblical, not philosophical. The Holy Spirit is given to believers for a very precise and useful purpose, and I wanted to highlight that in my musings. However, if anyone has any philosophical insights, they are welcome to share them.
No, but I do have some philosophical questions. I ask these not for arguments sake (e.g. I already know what I think and i'm just dragging people into a "discussion"), I would just like to hear peoples opinions.
First, In John 16:7 Jesus says, "But i tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you." If we work from the premise that The Holy Spirit is God (as Acts 5:1-4 and many, many others would affirm), and if one of the attributes of the Holy Spirit is omnipresence (as Psalm 139:7-10 would affirm), then why is it necessary for Jesus to "send" the Spirit when the Spirit is clearly already here?
Second, more practical question (and this one I do have some sort of opinion on, but I want to hear other views), can somebody be a Christian without having the Holy Spirit? And, if so, what are we to make of Paul's question to the Ephesians in Acts 19:2, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?"
Many thanks in advance for your input and viewpoints
pony
While lurking through the Free Republic today, I found this interesting post on the person of the Holy Spirit from a Catholic perspective, posted by Salvation:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/922697/posts
The postings are both more spiritual and theological in nature than my article, and make for some very interesting reading...