In Reply to: Fred, about spiritual voices posted by Observer on February 28, 2006 at 19:46:06:
Observer:
I once gave pretty much the same answer you just did to Fred, to a couple of Mormons. They were saying that the versions conflicted, in order to claim the Bible was not dependable, in order to make room for credence in their "other writings", not that the slightly differing testimony in Act 9 and Acts 22 was the result of which individuals in the LARGE party accompanying Paul were SAMPLED to make up the report by Luke to Theophilus, to whom the letter was written.
I think that physical proximity to Saul determined what exactly was seen and/or heard. The Greek "phone" (fone-AY) can be a man's voice or just a noise; even an animal noise--I'm not all that sure about this one.
I do think that it was a matter of physical hearing, differingly sampled by various men in varying physical proximity to Saul; though.
"Spiritual sensitivity" can be quite a murky subject at times; I've observed. Daniel never said, "I'm spiritually attuned", but that there is a God in Heaven who "reveals/unveils/explains" mysteries, and who would get the answer to Nebuchadnezzer form THAT source, alone. And Daniel said, "And as for me, this secret is revealed to me, not by any wisdom that I have more than any living, but to the intent that the interpretation should be made known to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart."--like God does for us when we pray and read His REAL word.
I was, in the past, accutely attuned to the demonic spiritual stuff--telepathy, clairvoyance and other stuff like psychokinesis (in the form of "pranhic heat energy" in Yoga), which all went away after I was saved and filled with the Holy Spirit.
And, in over 31 years, I have experienced all nine gifts listed in 1 Cor 12, at one time or another, but have no real "office" in the church, like a pastor, or anything, so being a real "spiritual giant" was not the case for me--I wasn't "really spiritual" for a long time, on order to "earn" the ability to "see on demand"; or whatever.
I have learned to pray for sensitivity to, and the ability to cooperate with whatever God, the Holy spirit, is AREADY doing, in whatever way He would like to include me; that works best for me. I pray He makes me sensitive to Him, and to others, in whatever way He chooses, and He ALWAYS comes through.
When it comes, and that's only when God initiates--it's NEVER "on demand", like the demonic counterfeit gifts are made to appear to be; I have also observed.
What exactly are your criteria for accepting/rejecting biblical translations; please? I frankly don't remember ;-).
That's certainly another subject; all by itself!
Sincerely,
OT2 (OldtimerToo)