Who decides what’s divine - the believer or the preacher?

You asked, who decides what's divine... the believer or the preacher?

Seems worded a little odd to me but I'll try to answer the best I can. We know the Divine when the Holy Spirit speaks to our heart and life and invites us to accept Jesus as our personal Savior. The Holy Spirit's role is to convict people of their sins so that they can come to Jesus and have him forgive them, which he readily does and turns no one away.

God's word helps us become familiar with him and know his ways. Ministers are also instruments of God and the Holy Spirit speaks to them about what to tell his congregation, so they can come to know Christ and why they need Jesus as their Savior. He tells you the right reasons why we need Jesus as our personal Savior. People just don't automatically know this and they do not automatically have the Holy Spirit, until they repent of their sins and have Jesus forgive them. It's in the bible. There's no such thing as the Holy Spirit indwelling a vessel that is unclean before the Lord. Jesus sent out his disciples in the world and told them to tell people the good news of Salvation through Jesus Christ. This is important and that's what Believers today are called to do. The Bible says how will they know unless they are told?

I do not listen to man. His reasoning in itself and by itself is flawed. Therefore I listen to God who is sinless and I know will not lead me a stray in any way. Many people have many ideas on how to get to heaven but Jesus said there's only one way to heaven. He said that. Not me. I follow him and what he says. Jesus said if you listen to any other voice they will lead you astray. They definitely will. And those who followed Christ knew his voice and so they were able to tell others how to get to heaven. But one must be careful whom they listen to because some people think they're saved but they're not. They have not done as God has asked them to do nor followed his instruction. God said in his word that he specifically gave us his words so that we would know exactly how to get to heaven and not guess. The destination of our soul is definitely not something we want to guess about and where it's going to spend eternity. That's something we definitely need to get right, according to God's word. We can be stubborn about it and go our own way, certainly, but the Bible says not all ways lead to Christ. There's a way that seems right unto man, but the end thereof is death. Physical and spiritual death...Proverbs 14:12. God is telling us here, don't listen to just anyone who comes along. They may be following a path that they think is right but according to God, is not. Each person has to decide whether they're going to follow Christ or someone else. Christ is no liar, so that's why I trust him alone. If I thought for a second he was, I would not have followed him for a whole 52 years. He is definitely trustworthy.

"If 'God' remains a concept and not a foundational experience, isn't investing a whole life's hope & choices into it a rational gamble? High cost for low personal certainty seems counterproductive."

I'm glad you mentioned this because that is very important regarding investing once whole life in a person. That would most certainly seem rational and true, however, it is my experience in following him for 52 years that he is no liar. It is possible to have a relationship with him on a spiritual level, since we cannot see him today. Nevertheless, he is alive, he rose from the grave and before he died, he directed his disciples to tell the good news about salvation through himself.

That was a very dangerous thing for the disciples to do back then because if they declared that they were Christians, followers of Christ, they knew for a fact they could be killed instantly. But because of their strong love and knowledge of Jesus, that he came as Savior of the world as prophesied 500 years in advance by Isaiah, they purposely risked their very lives to spread the gospel of Christ.

They never would have done that had they thought he was a lie. They walked with him, they talked with him and fellowshipped with him and even saw him ascend into heaven after his death. Over 500 people witnessed it. The Bible gives the history of it. And this is why God wrote his word so that we wouldn't have to guess, but no in our hearts who he was and why he came. They knew Jesus was trustworthy and that he keeps his promises, even to us today. If we seek him, we shall find him. I never would have followed him for 52 years if I thought he was a liar, but he has proven himself to me over and over, when answering my prayers. I don't even think anyone could sustain an "alleged" relationship with Christ for even a year or two, if they were not sure of who he is and that he is real and keeps his promises. That would be hard to do. It may not be easy to understand but we don't have to figure everything out before we can except Jesus as our personal Savior. There's no real reason to lie about it. I don't see what that would serve. Nobody's getting paid for it. Haha I asked Jesus to come into my heart and life as Savior and he more than proved himself to me. I didn't even know there was such a thing as receiving the Holy Spirit after we asked Jesus to come into our heart. I found out real quick Jesus is real and that I could have a relationship with him. Anyone can. Jesus didn't come to save the religions of this world. He came to save anyone who wishes to be saved. Anyone in the world, as stated in John 3:16. I must tell you that I was shocked, went after I invited him into my heart and life as Savior, that he sent his Holy Spirit to touch my heart and transform my whole life... to dwell in me as my guide in life. You just can't make something like that up! It was real. Nothing I even knew would happen so I didn't make it up. I still can't get over it! These things are mentioned in the Bible. That's why we have the Bible. To tell us of these things. That didn't want us to guess because that's much too important to know, when it comes to protecting our soul and preparing it for eternity. It is actually God's love letter to mankind. To show him the way to have eternal life in heaven. When it comes to God's promises, they are solid, there's no guessing. He does keep his word. God's promises are sure, there's no gambling. It's when we take no action or thought into preparing our soul for eternity, that we gamble with our own soul. There's no second chances. Once we cross over into eternity, there's no turning back, so we must never take risks with our own soul.

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Ive tried to explain this so many times, but youve worded it better.

I know there are many who need religion, or a prophetic book to guide them, or rituals to connect them to something greater.
But then there are those that just feel it, see it and are naturally connected to the divinity of life.

Perosnally ive never felt divinity from a book, or during a sermon. Although I have felt it in the rain, or in a sunrise.

I think everyone is tuned to their own 'vibration' , (if you can call it that), so everyone gets their "divinity" their own way 🤷‍♀

In the end it comes to the individual's degree of freedom to choose and of choosing. Nothing wrong with choosing to listen to another, who acts as a divine messenger, if that is the person's choice.
In the end each turns to their own room at night.

I like very much this Einstein's quote, (if it is his) that there are two ways to see the world, as everything is magic and as nothing is. In the same sense, everything can seem divine, or nothing can...

Of course yes there is the gray scale, moments of realization and glimpse of divine. Sometimes obedience can lead to realization if the obedient has a mind of their own...and don't get literally attached to the wordings of an authority figure.

I think I like taoism the best, saying that there is not one way and how divinity or what they call the Dao, doesn't have a path towards it or a name..

The starting point is letting God into your life.

For me it was a response to the challenge of Revelations 3.20.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. He that hears my voice and lets me in, I will enter him and sup with him.

Notice you have to respond to His call. He is not inside already.


At about the same time I heard the call for discipleship. The call to follow Jesus. This call is constantly expressed in the Gospels. Mark1, Matthew 8, John 13 for example. For me the call was made verbally via an Anglican priest. I accepted the challenge to follow Jesus.

Then came my public declaration of faith, in front of Bishop, a congregation and the laying on of hands.

Preaching incidentally involves a lot of prayer in its preparation. It is a gift. Something you are called to do, maybe for a specific length of time. There was a guy in the Old Testament called Nehemiah, he was called to build a wall. The first thing he did was pray and fast. He build the wall in very little time, to enclose a safe haven for prayer and worship. He was a small cog in God’s purpose. So it is with preaching.

God's Word says there is no divine within us, until we come to know Christ and accept him into our hearts and lives. It is His Holy Spirit joining ours, that brings our spirit alive. We either believe him or we don't. I think if we were so smart that we could fear it all out ourselves, we would not have needed Jesus but that's why he came, to tell us how to get to heaven so there's no mistaking it. But some are too stubborn to listen. He is no liar. I know I can depend on him instead of flawed man.

Divinity..isnt that the white Christmas fudge granny makes???
Joking-
Divinity or being divine is just an information that conforms to higher intelligence, higher powers, a more sabotaging approach to is it real to u..in my own opinion, knowing is head knowledge, application is heart knowledge. Dont setup urself for nit picking projects..dive in and ask for God almighty to guide ya by direction of tge Holy Spirit

Yes! This! A preacher is there for education and guiding you to calm your mind so that you can experience the holy spirit. That interaction does not come from the church but from a personal relationship between yourself and God.

It isn't a "decision", that's what religion and the imagination is. Deciding something versus having faith.

Divine is God and comes from him His divine power. We certainly aren't, but he can bestow upon us.

It is an individual’s perception and experience
I’d say

It’s within us, we are more powerful than we think.

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God’s Grace

See what happens when you align your will with His.

God is the Authority on that...

The only people who have the divine within are those who have been indwelled by the Holy Spirit..

the one who wins the war . history and religion is decided by the winner .. sorry if it is not a response ya might want to hear

Do you want to be God? Are you a god?