Not all who are filled with the Holy Spirit have the truth.

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preacher4truth

Senior Member
Dec 28, 2016
9,171
2,718
113
#21
Stephen, was a newly converted Christian and would have been taught, that after Jesus had been given divine glory by our God, John 20: 17; He had ascended to his Father and our Father, to his God and our God, where he, who is now incontestably divine and sits on the right hand of our God, to where he invites his brothers, who like himself, are able to win the victory over the world, to sit with him in the throne of Godhead to all creation, visible and invisible, See Rev 3: 21. But did Stephen actually see anything? After reading everything that Stephen said, I cant put faith he anything that he had to say.

Stephen, a Greek speaking Jew, who had been dragged before the Jewish authorities by Saul, in defense of his faith before being stoned to death, stated in acts 7: 4, that it was after Terah HAD DIED that his son Abraham obeyed Gods command and went to live in the land of Canaan. But the record in Genesis makes it plain that after Terah had turned 70 not 75 or 80, he became the father of Abraham, Nahor and Haran, and that Abraham was 75 when he travelled to Canaan, leaving his father with his younger brother Nahor,and that his father died 60 years later at the age of 205. Stephens words here are seen to be untrue.

Stephen also states in Acts 7: 15-17, that Abraham bought the grave site for Sarah in the land of Shechem from Hamor, whereas Genesis 23: shows that Abraham bought the grave site from Ephron the Hittite at Machpeleh east of Mamre, which is way to the south of Shechem. Again Stephens words are untrue

It is also said by Stephen in the same verses, that Jacob and his sons were buried at Shechem, when in fact, it was only the remains of Joseph which was buried there, see Joshua 24: 32. Again Stephens words are untrue

Jacob and his other sons were buried at Mamre and concerning the burial of Jacob, it is written in genesis 50: 13, They carried the body of Jacob to Canaan and buried it in the cave at Machpelah east of Mamre in the field which Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite.Again Stephens words are untrue.

Stephen also got the number of the family who moved into Egypt wrong.

How many people have we heard or who have written the erroneous statement of Stephen, that it was after his father had died that Abraham Journeyed into the land of Canaan? Just because something is stated in scripture, some people take it to be the gospel truth without checking it out .

Stephen was neither a teacher nor a preacher, but was a newly converted Greek speaking Jew, and because the widows of this group were being neglected in the daily distribution of funds, he with six others were chosen to handle the finances, and although he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he did not speak the truth because he did not know the truth, for knowing the truth has nothing to do with the blessings of the Holy Spirit.

The world is filled with wonderful people who are a blessing to the communities in which they live, and who are ignorant to the truth of Gods word, (Blessed are they who do not see, and yet believe) these people are not filled with knowledge of the truth that is revealed in scripture, but they are filled with the love, the power, and the compassion of the holy Spirit
The real question is why don't YOU believe the Scriptures when they say Stephen was filled with the Spirit? Perhaps your understanding of the Genesis account is incomplete and amiss and thus you make an erroneous conclusion here.
 

notuptome

Senior Member
May 17, 2013
15,050
2,538
113
#22
The real question is why don't YOU believe the Scriptures when they say Stephen was filled with the Spirit? Perhaps your understanding of the Genesis account is incomplete and amiss and thus you make an erroneous conclusion here.
He is not a Christian and does not have the Holy Spirit abiding in him. All that he professes is going to be nonsense.

Even if his premise were partly true, which it obviously is not, without the Holy Spirit none of the truth of God is imparted to an unregenerate man.

For the cause of Christ
Roger
 
B

BeyondET

Guest
#23
Hey here's one, how old was Jesus?
 
Feb 24, 2015
13,204
168
0
#24

Stephen, a Greek speaking Jew, who had been dragged before the Jewish authorities by Saul, in defense of his faith before being stoned to death, stated in acts 7: 4, that it was after Terah HAD DIED that his son Abraham obeyed Gods command and went to live in the land of Canaan. But the record in Genesis makes it plain that after Terah had turned 70 not 75 or 80, he became the father of Abraham, Nahor and Haran, and that Abraham was 75 when he travelled to Canaan, leaving his father with his younger brother Nahor,and that his father died 60 years later at the age of 205. Stephens words here are seen to be untrue.
This is one of the classic problems of interpretation.
It all hinges on the meaning of this sentence

"Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran."
Gen 11:26

If this means Terah became a father aged 70, and his sons are Abram, Nahor and Haran.
It makes sense when they moved to Haran everyone went with them.
Equally when they left Haran when Abram was 75, everyone went with them.

So Terah is not mentioned so must have died.
This suggest with Terah living to be 205, Abram was born when he was 130+.

So what Stephen is saying is a reasonable conclusion.
Now the reason this is the accepted position, because Stephen is preaching to
the highest authority in Judaism, and he is building an argument of the link between
Abraham and Jesus, so would start on the solid ground of understanding within Judaism
which is obviously Abraham, aged 75, left Haran after Terah died.
 
A

Ariel82

Guest
#25
Bible Map: Valley of Hebron (Mamre)

Genesis 37:14 He said to him, "Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again." So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
36,645
13,120
113
#27
Again Stephens words are untrue
. . .
Again Stephens words are untrue
. . .
Again Stephens words are untrue.
. . .
decent article here refuting the ((common)) attack on scripture in the OP:

http://www.studytoanswer.net/consref/stephensermon.html

excerpt:

Stephen's sermon to the Jews in Acts 7 is one of the favourite portions of Scripture for skeptics to attack. There are several points in it which they will claim contradict the historical accounts related in the Old Testament. However, these assaults are the result of a lack of knowledge about the context, whether textual, theological, or cultural, in which this sermon appears. They arise from a reading of the text by unbelievers who wish to dispense with trying to understand the Bible as a systematic whole, and who instead want to pull bits and pieces out of their natural contexts, claim a contradiction, and give themselves a pretended reason to not believe what the Word of God says. Below, I will address several of the more common claims to contradictions with the Old Testament history that is being related in Stephen's message, and elucidate them in turn.

 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
36,645
13,120
113
#28
more from the article cited above:

[HR][/HR][HR][/HR]

What we see in this passage is simply that either Stephen in his sermon, or Luke in his recounting of the sermon, is telescoping the events of Abraham and Jacob together, as they are essentially similar subject matter, and are related chronologically and historically. Again, let us remember who Stephen's audience were - Hellenistic Jews who would to a certain degree have been Hellenised. As such, they would have been more receptive (and perhaps would subconsciously expect) a presentation in a Hellenistic style of rhetoric.

It is doubtful that Stephen's audience would have even thought twice about Stephen's supposed error - they would have recognised the oratory device, and filled in the unspoken details themselves from their tacit knowledge of the stories and texts in question. This is made all the more likely because of the fact that most ancient cultures utilised high-context communication. Whereas we, in our low context society, feel the need to explicitly spell out exactly what we mean and leave little to the tacit knowledge of our audience, the ancients left much of the context of their words unspoken. The hearers or readers were expected to fill in the details from what they already knew, as Stephen would likely have expected his audience to do in this situation.

Of course, this telescoping device was not solely limited to Hellenistic venues. Hints of it also seem to appear in the Hebrew scriptures. We see it somewhat in Joshua's sermon in Joshua 24, such as where Joshua appears to get his chronology backwards in vv. 11-13. The creation account in Genesis 1, where the events of the sixth day, especially the creation of Adam and Eve, are telescoped together and the much greater detail appearing in Genesis 2 is left out. Despite (though not necessarily contradictory to) all the emphasis that has been laid out about the Hellenism of Stephen's audience, we can see that Stephen's sermon delivery is firmly in the Hebrew tradition. Sermonry through the recounting of historical details and progression, especially as they apply to God's dealings with the nation of Israel, are a programmatic Hebrew method of exhortation. This methodology is used extensively by Moses (e.g. Deut. chs. 4, 29, 32), is the basis of Joshua's sermon in Joshua 24, forms the basis of Psalm 78, and is found elsewhere in the Hebrew scriptures. This same sort of Hebraism appears elsewhere in the New Testament, such as in Corinthians 10 and Hebrews 11.

Thus, Stephen's sermon was fully in line with both the Hebraic and Hellenistic traditions of his audience, and his meaning would have been easily recognised by the members of his audience. While this telescoping appears to modern, low-context observers as wrong, it is incorrect to say that this is a "contradiction" or "error" given what has been said above. This only appears to be a contradiction because our modern minds are not conditioned to recognise and expect Hellenistic modes of speech.
 

tanakh

Senior Member
Dec 1, 2015
4,635
1,040
113
76
#29
People on this site all have access to Bibles concordances and computers/internet. Yet there are still arguments and debates about various things found in the Bible. In particular things connected with the last days. If being filled with the Holy Spirit guaranteed complete knowledge of the truth there wouldn't be any.
 

miknik5

Senior Member
Jun 2, 2016
7,833
588
113
#30
Stephen, was a newly converted Christian and would have been taught, that after Jesus had been given divine glory by our God, John 20: 17; He had ascended to his Father and our Father, to his God and our God, where he, who is now incontestably divine and sits on the right hand of our God, to where he invites his brothers, who like himself, are able to win the victory over the world, to sit with him in the throne of Godhead to all creation, visible and invisible, See Rev 3: 21. But did Stephen actually see anything? After reading everything that Stephen said, I cant put faith he anything that he had to say.

Stephen, a Greek speaking Jew, who had been dragged before the Jewish authorities by Saul, in defense of his faith before being stoned to death, stated in acts 7: 4, that it was after Terah HAD DIED that his son Abraham obeyed Gods command and went to live in the land of Canaan. But the record in Genesis makes it plain that after Terah had turned 70 not 75 or 80, he became the father of Abraham, Nahor and Haran, and that Abraham was 75 when he travelled to Canaan, leaving his father with his younger brother Nahor,and that his father died 60 years later at the age of 205. Stephens words here are seen to be untrue.

Stephen also states in Acts 7: 15-17, that Abraham bought the grave site for Sarah in the land of Shechem from Hamor, whereas Genesis 23: shows that Abraham bought the grave site from Ephron the Hittite at Machpeleh east of Mamre, which is way to the south of Shechem. Again Stephens words are untrue

It is also said by Stephen in the same verses, that Jacob and his sons were buried at Shechem, when in fact, it was only the remains of Joseph which was buried there, see Joshua 24: 32. Again Stephens words are untrue

Jacob and his other sons were buried at Mamre and concerning the burial of Jacob, it is written in genesis 50: 13, They carried the body of Jacob to Canaan and buried it in the cave at Machpelah east of Mamre in the field which Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite.Again Stephens words are untrue.

Stephen also got the number of the family who moved into Egypt wrong.

How many people have we heard or who have written the erroneous statement of Stephen, that it was after his father had died that Abraham Journeyed into the land of Canaan? Just because something is stated in scripture, some people take it to be the gospel truth without checking it out .

Stephen was neither a teacher nor a preacher, but was a newly converted Greek speaking Jew, and because the widows of this group were being neglected in the daily distribution of funds, he with six others were chosen to handle the finances, and although he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he did not speak the truth because he did not know the truth, for knowing the truth has nothing to do with the blessings of the Holy Spirit.

The world is filled with wonderful people who are a blessing to the communities in which they live, and who are ignorant to the truth of Gods word, (Blessed are they who do not see, and yet believe) these people are not filled with knowledge of the truth that is revealed in scripture, but they are filled with the love, the power, and the compassion of the holy Spirit
Your thread is misleading

There is only ONE TRUTH and TESTIMONY and there is only ONE SPIRIT of TRUTH who glorifies THE SON to the glory of THE FATHER
 
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miknik5

Senior Member
Jun 2, 2016
7,833
588
113
#31
Blessed are they who do not see and believe is sufficient because they believe in CHRIST

Even those who believe in HIS NAME

They have the faith of a child and their faith is more than sufficient to save since it is rightly directed in and only on CHRIST alone to save
 

miknik5

Senior Member
Jun 2, 2016
7,833
588
113
#32
People on this site all have access to Bibles concordances and computers/internet. Yet there are still arguments and debates about various things found in the Bible. In particular things connected with the last days. If being filled with the Holy Spirit guaranteed complete knowledge of the truth there wouldn't be any.
It's because those who want to be teachers forget the BEST PART and want to feed meat to lambs who haven't first drink the milk

we weren't supposed to preach anything but CHRIST
If we have knowledge of prophecies and insight by HIS SPIRIT we atill
has better make sure that our feet are planted on the ONE FOUNDATION of our faith

CHRIST

And not "go out" from HIM who is both the FOUNDATION and HEAD of this faith in which we stand and will stand

provided we do not "go out"
 

miknik5

Senior Member
Jun 2, 2016
7,833
588
113
#33
Not all have reached the UNITY of FAITH
And there is only ONE FAITH just as there is only ONE SPIRIT

If someone is bringing a "new truth"?
it isn't from THE HOLY SPIRIT
 
Aug 15, 2009
9,745
179
0
#34
People on this site all have access to Bibles concordances and computers/internet. Yet there are still arguments and debates about various things found in the Bible. In particular things connected with the last days. If being filled with the Holy Spirit guaranteed complete knowledge of the truth there wouldn't be any.
I think this is where this scripture comes into play, tanakh:

2 Timothy 3

1But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money,boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 6For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,7always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.
 

miknik5

Senior Member
Jun 2, 2016
7,833
588
113
#35
I think this is where this scripture comes into play, tanakh:

2 Timothy 3

1But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money,boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 6For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses,7always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.
Most certainly

just as it was made manifest by those, though they claimed to know GOD, yet tested CHRIST by bringing to HIM
a woman caught in adultery showing that by what was really in them, they did not truly know of whose spirit they claimed themselves to be of


in the end. many will rise uo thinking themselves in service to GOD, but by what they do will make manifest that they misrepresent HIM
 

CS1

Well-known member
May 23, 2012
12,289
4,040
113
#36
Stephen, was a newly converted Christian and would have been taught, that after Jesus had been given divine glory by our God, John 20: 17; He had ascended to his Father and our Father, to his God and our God, where he, who is now incontestably divine and sits on the right hand of our God, to where he invites his brothers, who like himself, are able to win the victory over the world, to sit with him in the throne of Godhead to all creation, visible and invisible, See Rev 3: 21. But did Stephen actually see anything? After reading everything that Stephen said, I cant put faith he anything that he had to say.

Stephen, a Greek speaking Jew, who had been dragged before the Jewish authorities by Saul, in defense of his faith before being stoned to death, stated in acts 7: 4, that it was after Terah HAD DIED that his son Abraham obeyed Gods command and went to live in the land of Canaan. But the record in Genesis makes it plain that after Terah had turned 70 not 75 or 80, he became the father of Abraham, Nahor and Haran, and that Abraham was 75 when he travelled to Canaan, leaving his father with his younger brother Nahor,and that his father died 60 years later at the age of 205. Stephens words here are seen to be untrue.

Stephen also states in Acts 7: 15-17, that Abraham bought the grave site for Sarah in the land of Shechem from Hamor, whereas Genesis 23: shows that Abraham bought the grave site from Ephron the Hittite at Machpeleh east of Mamre, which is way to the south of Shechem. Again Stephens words are untrue

It is also said by Stephen in the same verses, that Jacob and his sons were buried at Shechem, when in fact, it was only the remains of Joseph which was buried there, see Joshua 24: 32. Again Stephens words are untrue

Jacob and his other sons were buried at Mamre and concerning the burial of Jacob, it is written in genesis 50: 13, They carried the body of Jacob to Canaan and buried it in the cave at Machpelah east of Mamre in the field which Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite.Again Stephens words are untrue.

Stephen also got the number of the family who moved into Egypt wrong.

How many people have we heard or who have written the erroneous statement of Stephen, that it was after his father had died that Abraham Journeyed into the land of Canaan? Just because something is stated in scripture, some people take it to be the gospel truth without checking it out .

Stephen was neither a teacher nor a preacher, but was a newly converted Greek speaking Jew, and because the widows of this group were being neglected in the daily distribution of funds, he with six others were chosen to handle the finances, and although he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he did not speak the truth because he did not know the truth, for knowing the truth has nothing to do with the blessings of the Holy Spirit.

The world is filled with wonderful people who are a blessing to the communities in which they live, and who are ignorant to the truth of Gods word, (Blessed are they who do not see, and yet believe) these people are not filled with knowledge of the truth that is revealed in scripture, but they are filled with the love, the power, and the compassion of the holy Spirit
opinionated
 
May 13, 2017
2,359
27
0
#39
You are sadly mistaken, Paul only knew the law of moses and what was in the scriptures of the old testament.. no revelation of Jesus until he was converted when he was knocked from his horse and blinded. Read Galatians ; 1; 11-24.
I think what the Aussie guy was saying is that Paul was at the top of the class of zealots He was basically an honor student in his "bible school" education...Then he met Jesus head on. That's when the Word came alive in him.
 
May 12, 2017
2,641
65
0
#40
Please reveal the truths of God's word without referring to the Holy Scriptures? Paul was taught by the greatest religious teacher of those days, he knew all the scriptures off by heart, it was only after his visitation of Jesus of Nazareth in his new glorified body of brilliant and blinding light, that he saw those scriptures in a different light
and you would be wrong...good day and off to iggy land you go...