tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338877077069607303.post102777524943363310..comments2023-10-28T17:51:55.929+03:00Comments on Hughes Family to Moldova: The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment- Chapter 6Jacob and Viola Hugheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02121192290535193865noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338877077069607303.post-42114385618374986402012-11-16T18:44:53.075+02:002012-11-16T18:44:53.075+02:00Sorry my comments are VERY late. We have been on ...Sorry my comments are VERY late. We have been on the road with missions conferences for several weeks straight with VERY limited internet access. As it is, this entry and chapter 7's as well will be very brief as they are being drafted in a McDonald's parking lot. :-)<br /><br />Comments on Chapter 6:<br /><br />Many good points have been made already about issues in this chapter, but I just wanted to take a minute to address one quote I could not pass up...<br /><br />- " In this passage [Is. 46:9-11] God reveals his absolute sovereignty over all of Creation. He alone rules all things through all times. He rules the actions of the birds and the choices of human beings." Now, my last name might be Peacock and I have been accused of being a 'bird brain' on more than one occasion, but God does not control the choices of human beings. That is what sets us apart from animals...He has created us with a FREE WILL to make choices. I could go on for quite some time about this, but this was a major flaw that I could not overlook and avoid mentioning. <br /><br />Other than that, I think the rest of the guys covered the rest of my points already so I will save my time not retyping the same thoughts!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338877077069607303.post-37653303433021384942012-11-14T15:46:47.702+02:002012-11-14T15:46:47.702+02:00It makes perfect sense. You were using other peop...It makes perfect sense. You were using other people's designations for us. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16548828164380878801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338877077069607303.post-71637634596730166672012-11-14T06:21:15.110+02:002012-11-14T06:21:15.110+02:00John, I did it just to see if you were paying atte...John, I did it just to see if you were paying attention! Ok, just kidding about that. I do not consider myself an Evangelical. However, most people outside of the Fundamental Independent Baptist movement would put us in that broad category. I wanted my statement to be enlarged to include more, hence I used a designation that most other people would use. <br />In other words, instead of taking a lot of space to say what I wanted, I used what is more often used. I did that because while I see making decisions with man's thinking a problems in our circles, I see it as an even bigger problem with those who would consider themselves Evangelicals.<br />Does that make sense?Jacob and Viola Hugheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02121192290535193865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338877077069607303.post-7947135139105600172012-11-14T05:29:42.754+02:002012-11-14T05:29:42.754+02:00Jacob, I thought your grouping of "us" a...Jacob, I thought your grouping of "us" as within broader Evangelicalism as strange. I'm not offended, or worried about you being a "compromiser". When I think of myself, I don't think of myself as an Evangelical. Historically, Biblically, Practically, etc. I see myself as a Fundamentalist. Perhaps you were going for Conservative vs. Liberal? I know many on the left side of theology would group everyone to their right as Evangelical. Perhaps that was the source of your reference. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16548828164380878801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338877077069607303.post-44139102413298719232012-11-14T05:22:56.373+02:002012-11-14T05:22:56.373+02:00As they say, better late (this week) than never (l...As they say, better late (this week) than never (last week)! <br /><br />Clearly, I disagree with his view of predestination and sovereignty. I thought it quite ironic that he would discuss this along with “finding the will of God”. It would appear that I don’t need to find the will of God, because it will find me! I found his statement that “God’s secret will extends even to things that are evil…” especially revolting. Now that I’ve established my non-Calvinist stance…on to other things.<br />His quotation of Eph. 5:17-18 reminded me of a truth I concluded from that passage. If drunkenness is against God’s will, wouldn’t taking a drink be a step away from God’s will and toward the will of Satan?<br /><br />Several things about his counsel to his brother-in-law regarding moving to NYC stuck out to me.<br /> -Don’t base your decision on peace. While I agree that peace alone should not be the guide, does not the Scripture say, “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts…” (Col. 3:15)? My understanding of “rule” is “to act like an umpire”. It seems that the total dismissal of peace is unwarranted.<br /> -Will he be able to provide for his family? It seems that this statement is telling us that financial evaluations can help determine God’s will. While this may be possible in some situations, does this hold up to all scenarios? In the spirit of Matthew 6, it appears this advice would be contradictory to Scripture. (Those on the other side of the thought will point to I Tim. 5:8. It appears to me that the verse is referencing cash on hand, rather than decisions of faith.) If I had followed Tim’s advice on this point, I would have never moved to Charlotte. I had no promise of being able to provide for my family, and yet 18 months (and one new baby boy) later, I have no debt, and just as much money as when I left. <br /><br />I loved this quote. “While the Bible does not speak to every issue, every issue will somehow tie into God’s plan for the redemption of his people. This will in turn lead us to God’s purposes and finally to God’s will.” I’ve always thought that everything we do matters. I never put it in these words before. (Reading Andy Stanley’s Principle of the Path helped me affirm this truth.)<br /><br />“Our discernment must be held to issues in which God has given us the ability to see and obey.” This is an important truth! Sometimes, I must humbly remind myself that I don’t need to know what or why. God decided it, I can’t change it, so why should I worry/think/wonder about it. [Strangely enough, he doesn’t apply this truth earlier when speaking of election/predestination. He calls it God’s “secret” will, but it is so secret that Tim knows about it!]<br /><br />I loved his mention of discernment in emotions. This is a good point. I would say, rather, that emotions reveal our level of discernment, reflecting the way we perceive things to be. Our attitudes and emotions tell most of our story, much more than our actions. <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16548828164380878801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338877077069607303.post-53068144007723404012012-11-13T16:09:36.100+02:002012-11-13T16:09:36.100+02:00(part 2)
I appreciated the author's example of...(part 2)<br />I appreciated the author's example of advice he gave his sister and her husband. "I have told them that they should not base their decision on what they perceive as open doors or feelings of internal peace. Rather, they should look for principles that would govern this move." (pg.117) This helps bring knowing and following the will of God out of the subjective and more into the tangible and objective. Too often, the peace described by believers in making decisions is some nebulous, mystical thing. Instead the peace should be based upon a study of the Word and assurance that God's principles have led us to the right decision.<br /><br />Close to the end he discusses the sufficiency of Scripture, which was great.<br /><br />The statement of "Our spontaneous thoughts and actions are a sure measure of our spiritual growth, our spiritual maturity, and our spiritual discernment" was convicting. While I know God has brought me a long way on this, I know I have much further to go on this.<br /><br />This chapter was helpful in assuring me of things I have been learning over the past decade regarding God's will and making it not as nebulous and even scary as I used to be.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10691092293025211173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338877077069607303.post-56186318121738181762012-11-13T16:08:26.741+02:002012-11-13T16:08:26.741+02:00The "will of God" was an area of misunde...The "will of God" was an area of misunderstanding and fog in my mind during my teenage and early college years. With many big decisions during those years, I wanted to know and follow God's will. Unfortunately, much of what I had heard preached was finding an "internal peace" or "having a verse of Scripture speak to you." The will of God took on a very subjective, touchy, feely kind of concept. Several lessons I had learned regarding God's will were reflected in this chapter, and I learned even some more in this chapter.<br /><br />But first.... my 2 cents on his Calvinism rhetoric. "As difficult as it is to believe, God's secret will extends even to things that are evil, though God himself does no wrong." (pg.111) Uh, yes.. it is difficult to believe. How Calvinists reject that their beliefs lead God to be the author of sin, I do not understand. God is Sovereign enough to give man a free will and it not mess up His overall plan. <br /><br />"So when we speak of discerning God's will, we do not speak of this, his secret will." (pg.111). I was expecting the same division of God's will as Jacob had been expecting. I had not expected this. At the same time, I did find aspects of this division helpful and true. The author states that we should not seek to know God's secret will. I believe this is why fortune tellers and horoscopes are wrong. It seeks to delve into what is to be hidden from man. At the same time, there is an aspect of this that Christians can offend. My pastor preached an excellent sermon on the will of God where he mentioned that we often want to know what to buy or choose so that we will have the least amount of problems or misery. Then, if we have problems, we say it must not have been God's will. We want to know which car will not have problems in the future. We ask God if we are supposed to marry a person with the intent of wanting to know if we will have an easy or problem free marriage. Someone I know talks often about having "bad feelings" about purchases or decisions. Problems, pain, and persecutions can also be God's will. While we can study and make wise decisions, we can be tempted to seek some form of future knowledge that really is not ours to know, nor should it be the base on whether we do/choose something or not.<br /><br />"Where the Bible contains no explicit guidance, God gives us freedom and responsibility to choose what we will do. We do not choose randomly or haphazardly but with prayer and reliance upon Scripture." My uncle had told me years ago something to the effect of the first sentence in the quote. He said God doesn't have one wife picked out for a person but that he is free to choose whoever. With a decision as big as who one marries, this bothered me when I heard this and I could not accept what he said as true. To an extent, I agree with the quote, but have a hard time believing that God does not have a specific will in things such as who to marry.<br /><br />"Thankfully, as we have seen, the power and ability to discern are given at the moment of conversion, so we can have confidence that with effort even a new Christian can be discerning." (pg.116) While there is definitely a maturing and growing that occurs from spiritual birth and on, I think there is a danger of underestimating what a new believer can and should be capable of doing through Christ. A new believer can be Spirit-filled. A new believer can have victory over sin. I appreciated his statement here.<br />Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10691092293025211173noreply@blogger.com