Quote:
Originally Posted by testallthings
The Holy Spirit brings to remembrance the words of God. If people don't read the Bible, and pray, the Spirit will bring absolutely zero, nilch, nada, nothing, to remembrance.
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testallthings,
I appreciate all the wonderful verses you posted. I agree with the verses you posted, the disciples and Christ indeed used the Bible. The Bible is very important for instruction, for doctrine, for wisdom. You have showed me that I should not make blanket generalizations about the use of the bible by the disciples or Christ. I would point out that in contrast to the bible studies today, the disciples were being taught directly by Christ himself. But the bible study habits of the disciples is not really my point, but the idea that the Bible and the Spirit are so interconnected that we cannot have one without the other.
But to say if they or we didn't have the Bible they or we wouldn't have the Spirit or wouldn't hear God's Word is not right in my opinion. What Bible did Adam, Eve, Cain, Noah, Abraham, many others, have? When they wanted to hear God did they open their Bibles? In 1 Kings 19:12 with Elijah when he heard God's voice where does it say he read the Scriptures first?
If a person cannot (ever) hear the Spirit's voice without the Bible, it only indicates that their God is the Bible and not the true God of Abraham, Noah, Elijah. What you are describing as the "Spirit's voice" after reading the Bible, could possibly be ones own memory and recollection, not necessarily the Spirit. I am not saying that God cannot and does not speak using the Bible, but to make a claim that without the Bible we can't hear the Spirit, seems to rule out experience of the Spirit without the Bible.