Pilgrim,
It is a pity that you are so dogmatically focussed on this one aspect of Christianity. I used the first text as my main argument and you need to remember that this truth comes from the heart and mind, and soul and substance of the Almighty. The same who John on the Island of Patmos said, spoke and it was like the sound of many waters. To an unbeliever the Bible is just a book with words, even to some Christians but when the Spirit of God breathes upon our hearts and minds we are able to recieve meaning from more than just the Bible, or else we have to get ready with the cigarette lighter fluid and begin to burn the Institutes and Bondage of the Will and Jonathan Edwards' writings...you know I think I heard Luther say..do it, do it, burn it all. The idea that God is unable to reach a person who has never read the Bible is a myth that was spread to keep everything with in the realm of mind. We are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if we have the Spirit of Christ, for he who has not the Spirit of Christ is none of His.
Ever learning...?? now if that doesn't make the point even stronger. Coming to the knowledge of the truth can only be accomplished when God opens the heart and mind as he did with Lydia, when Paul was talking to her. Interaction instead of cold freeze Sola Scriptura is what Paul was not afraid of.
This passage in Isaiah does not strengthen your position at all ??? It is full to the brim with meaning that when you get it you are going to wish you never put it up. Firstly, apart from the hidden emphasis that hearing God is the same as associating with a familiar spirit etc. Interesting to note that they would have needed to have light within them. Quake!
Now we are going to the most flamboyant character in the Bible the man who danced for how many hours in the presense of the Lord. I guess he was doing so while reading the scrolls, or he was writing down every word as he worshipped. The songs of King David and King Solomon and Moses and Habbakuk are included in Scripture and we are called to sing unto the Lord a NEW SONG, for it is He who gives us songs in the night...no my friend you are digging your own hole with this. What you are doing is what so many do, to make your meaning, or interpretation the only correct one. Exegesis has this claim, but it falls prey to Bibical Criticizm which often leaves huge gaping holes.
Why not have His Spirit in you, leading you and guiding you into ALL truth, not just a few sacred texts that you gaurd, but the new song, right now! God speaking in the here and now, not yesterdays newspaper, but todays! For today is the day of salvation.
Why did you not let the Holy Spirit give you something of your own to share instead of a song by and unknown author. Dry bones, Dry bones, receive the Spirit of God, dry bones rise up and walk.
<img src="/forum/images/graemlins/bigglasses.gif" alt="" /> Pumpkin time I have a long drive tonight.
