D
I can't answer. You didn't give enough choices.
I don't think it's just gifts, but is offices and ministries too. Apostle, by definition, had to cease. (Eyewitness to Christ on earth, so the only other choice would be one really annoyed ooooooooooooold man. lol)
The gift of healing? I've never heard of someone really with this gift. Sure, I've known people who laid hands on people and the person was healed, (God's used me for that, but I never healed anyone, he did -- he merely surprised me by using me lol), but God will gift someone for a task, if someone doesn't have that office in that church, and I've never known someone to have that office. And sure, I know of the circus-tent "healers," but every time I've seen them in action, all the person "healed" has to do is believe and then accept it wholeheartedly for the next X years, despite the evidence it didn't work, until it works, if it ever works, which, of course, means announcing the person, (and if you want to call the person God, that's fine -- that's expected. That's marketing), "healed" you, and poof! You're "instantly" healed. (Really kills the very definition of "instantly healed," but let's not get technical.) And if it doesn't work, you pretty much feel like a schmuck because you're the only person it didn't work for, so something must be wrong with you, (which, frankly, ought to be a "duh now!" moment, since that's why you went to a "healer" in the first place), so you're too ashamed to say you weren't healed. I don't recall any of that happening in the Bible, so, no I don't see healers as an office now, even though I do see God using people to heal still.
Preaching? I still think there are preachers and evangelists for today, but they're drowned out by thousands of voices proclaiming they are, but aren't. Want examples? Read one dozen posts on this board, and you'll see most of them are neither preachers nor evangelists, but the ones not asking questions or simply giving their opinion are just that -- people who think they are preachers and evangelist, but aren't. And again, we're not suppose to speak up, because that's
a. Impolite.
b. Squelching God in some kind of way.
c. Negative.
d. Speaking against a man of God.
e. etc.
So, it's really hard to pick out true gifts and true offices in a sea of wannabes.
So, I can't really answer. Seems to me the answer is
E. None of the above.
At least one office is really gone, the one gift everyone wants to talk about but doesn't mean much is mired in a sea of who-cares. Isn't-used-for-intended-purposes-anyway (tongues) and this question just keeps getting batted around by wannabe preachers and teachers who simply aren't, but we're supposed to listen to them anyway.
Is gifts really doctrine anyway? I thought it was a side issue. Did it just eveate to doctrine so this discussion/argument/let's see how polite we can be now can continue on for pages and sound important?
But, in the end, everyone, included me, will have our say anyway and call it another day on BDF.
I don't think it's just gifts, but is offices and ministries too. Apostle, by definition, had to cease. (Eyewitness to Christ on earth, so the only other choice would be one really annoyed ooooooooooooold man. lol)
The gift of healing? I've never heard of someone really with this gift. Sure, I've known people who laid hands on people and the person was healed, (God's used me for that, but I never healed anyone, he did -- he merely surprised me by using me lol), but God will gift someone for a task, if someone doesn't have that office in that church, and I've never known someone to have that office. And sure, I know of the circus-tent "healers," but every time I've seen them in action, all the person "healed" has to do is believe and then accept it wholeheartedly for the next X years, despite the evidence it didn't work, until it works, if it ever works, which, of course, means announcing the person, (and if you want to call the person God, that's fine -- that's expected. That's marketing), "healed" you, and poof! You're "instantly" healed. (Really kills the very definition of "instantly healed," but let's not get technical.) And if it doesn't work, you pretty much feel like a schmuck because you're the only person it didn't work for, so something must be wrong with you, (which, frankly, ought to be a "duh now!" moment, since that's why you went to a "healer" in the first place), so you're too ashamed to say you weren't healed. I don't recall any of that happening in the Bible, so, no I don't see healers as an office now, even though I do see God using people to heal still.
Preaching? I still think there are preachers and evangelists for today, but they're drowned out by thousands of voices proclaiming they are, but aren't. Want examples? Read one dozen posts on this board, and you'll see most of them are neither preachers nor evangelists, but the ones not asking questions or simply giving their opinion are just that -- people who think they are preachers and evangelist, but aren't. And again, we're not suppose to speak up, because that's
a. Impolite.
b. Squelching God in some kind of way.
c. Negative.
d. Speaking against a man of God.
e. etc.
So, it's really hard to pick out true gifts and true offices in a sea of wannabes.
So, I can't really answer. Seems to me the answer is
E. None of the above.
At least one office is really gone, the one gift everyone wants to talk about but doesn't mean much is mired in a sea of who-cares. Isn't-used-for-intended-purposes-anyway (tongues) and this question just keeps getting batted around by wannabe preachers and teachers who simply aren't, but we're supposed to listen to them anyway.
Is gifts really doctrine anyway? I thought it was a side issue. Did it just eveate to doctrine so this discussion/argument/let's see how polite we can be now can continue on for pages and sound important?
But, in the end, everyone, included me, will have our say anyway and call it another day on BDF.
