Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The Spirit and Scripture

Fred wrote:
"Ephesians 2:8,9 "8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast."

We do good deeds because we have been forgiven. He who is forgiven much, loves much. And after we have done everything we can do we must say, "It was our duty." In other words, it earned no "brownie points". It is not grace and works that saves us. It is grace alone. Our good deeds are a response to the grace of God"

It seems to me that it is not boasting to say that we feel compelled by The Spirit to use our gifts to help humanity. I have a hard time believing that anyone who simply hoards their grace is in any way improving the positive power in the universe. I believe that when we are truly listening for the "voice" of The Spirit, we are compelled to do good. "Every time I feel The Spirit moving in my heart, I'm afraid."

Just as  writer feels compelled to write, a singer feels compelled to sing, and a scientist feels compelled to seek answers, a person with The Spirit feels compelled to act in compassion for creation.There can be no peace without turning that Spirit into action.

Gayle wrote:
We do not necessarily need to read Scripture to hear the voice of God in our innermost being.  What Scripture does is confirm to us that it was God speaking, and not our own voice.  It is hard to learn to trust that inner voice without having Scripture to confirm it.  But when we have heard God speaking, and then He leads us to a particular verse that we did not even know existed, then and only then do we begin to have confidence that we are hearing God and not ourselves.  The process is a kind of "school of the Holy Spirit."  What is required is that we desire to learn, that we desire to hear, that we pray, "Lord, I want to see You;" "Lord, I want to hear You."  This kind of prayer will not go unanswered.

I have long had problems with subscribing to the notion that only some of the universe is privy to the "voice" of The Spirit, and that this voice must be previously written by others to be the true voice of The Spirit of Divinity. I have experienced too much evidence to the contrary. This is why I believe that we must expand our acceptance of what we consider "sacred" scripture.

I believe we are baptized in The Spirit of our community before our births. The Spirit imparted with the waters of our mothers wombs, when we are conceived in loving commitment, will sustain us as long as that love is kept alive. Fathers must commit to feeding this fire of loving commitment in order for The Spirits of the mothers and babies to thrive.

Communities must commit to supporting and nurturing these commitments. I have as much issue with selling human sperm and ovum as I do with abortion, and as much problem with killing the father of a family in war as I do with human sacrifice. The Spirit only thrives within committed community.

Why are we so intent on preaching that the sins of the fathers are passed down to the sons, and not on the commitment of the parents and the community being the embodiment of The Spirit in our daughters and sons?