But you were the one who claimed that all you needed to understand everything is the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Surely you have both. So teach me and the lurkers what the Holy Spirit, without any reference to any writings of any man, has taught you. Obviously whatever you believe cannot be in error, if, in fact what you say is true.
I am one who relies not only on the scripture and the Holy Spirit, but also the wisdom of those who have diligently and faithfully studied the scriptures 16 hours a day (you know, before there was TV, Radio and the Internet to occupy our time) to give me their wisdom and knowledge to assist me in coming to a knowledge of the truth.
So if you don't need the assistance of teachers and evangelists and pastors to have the absolute truth imparted to you, then please share that truth with us.
1 Pet 3:15 exhorts believers to give unto every man an answer. I am asking. You claim to know the truth. Tell me the truth.
Did you know that the word translated in the Bible as *church* in the Greek is the word *assembly*?
What word is that?
Are you an expert in ancient languages? Or do you think that we should consult such people when we have questions about the meaning of words translated from those languages?
http://biblos.com/1_corinthians/12-28.htm
*church* = ekklēsia
From Stong's
http://biblesuite.com/greek/1577.htm
1577 ekklēsía(from 1537 /ek, "out from and to" and 2564 /kaléō, "to call") – properly, people called out from the world and to God, the outcome being the Church (the mystical body of Christ) – i.e. the universal (total) body of believers whom God calls out from the world and into His eternal kingdom.
[The English word "church" comes from the Greek word kyriakos, "belonging to the Lord" (kyrios). 1577 /ekklēsía ("church") is the root of the terms "ecclesiology" and "ecclesiastical."]
Definition an assembly, a (religious) congregation
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Do you not believe that the Holy Spirit can guide any individual into truth though reading and studying, and memorizing Scripture?
Are Calvinists, like Catholics, all hung up on formal education in universities and seminaries as qualifications to understand Scripture and to have the mind of Christ?
Does studying Scripture 16 hours a day REALLY make one less prone to error or more prone to being correct?
I'd rather listen to the non-scholar who lives the word than some *scholar* somewhere whose *education* is supposed to wow us.
PM:”So if you don’t need the assistance of teachers and evangelists and pastors to have the absolute truth imparted to you, then please share that truth with us.”
Here’s a link to the absolute truth....
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ESV
That is not accurate. The word used for church is "ecclesia", ek-out, clesia (from caleo, calein) - called.
It means in Greek, "The called out ones"
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
kajgw; {P-1NS} dev {CONJ} soi {P-2DS} levgw {V-PAI-1S} o&ti {CONJ} su; {P-2NS} ei\ {V-PXI-2S} Pevtro?, {N-NSM} kai; {CONJ} ejpi; {PREP} tauvth/ {D-DSF} th'/ {T-DSF} pevtra/ {N-DSF} oijkodomhvsw {V-FAI-1S} mou {P-1GS} th;n {T-ASF} ejkklhsivan, {N-ASF} kai; {CONJ} puvlai {N-NPF} a&/dou {N-GSM} ouj {PRT} katiscuvsousin {V-FAI-3P} aujth'?. {P-GSF}
Assembly, on the other hand, is "panEgurei" which means: pan (all), egurei (gathering) from agora (public meeting place)
It means something like "the gathering of all". In Hebrews 12:23 they are used together and the meaning you propose would make the verse senseless: He 12: 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect ,