Announcement

Collapse

Deeper Waters Forum Guidelines

Notice – The ministries featured in this section of TheologyWeb are guests of this site and in some cases not bargaining for the rough and tumble world of debate forums, though sometimes they are. Additionally, this area is frequented and highlighted for guests who also very often are not acclimated to debate fora. As such, the rules of conduct here will be more strict than in the general forum. This will be something within the discretion of the Moderators and the Ministry Representative, but we simply ask that you conduct yourselves in a manner considerate of the fact that these ministries are our invited guests. You can always feel free to start a related thread in general forum without such extra restrictions. Thank you.

Deeper Waters is founded on the belief that the Christian community has long been in the shallow end of Christianity while there are treasures of the deep waiting to be discovered. Too many in the shallow end are not prepared when they go out beyond those waters and are quickly devoured by sharks. We wish to aid Christians to equip them to navigate the deeper waters of the ocean of truth and come up with treasure in the end.

We also wish to give special aid to those often neglected, that is, the disabled community. This is especially so since our founders are both on the autism spectrum and have a special desire to reach those on that spectrum. While they are a special emphasis, we seek to help others with any disability realize that God can use them and that they are as the Psalmist says, fearfully and wonderfully made.

General TheologyWeb forum rules: here.
See more
See less

Your Dreams Are Not Authoritative

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Your Dreams Are Not Authoritative

    Can you trust what goes through your head at night?

    The link can be found here.

    -----

    What should you pay attention to? Let's plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

    Just today, my wife pointed out to me a post in a Facebook group we belong to that someone made about being scared of end times predictions. Unfortunately, this happens all too often. In the crazy world of the internet, you have people making all kinds of predictions and getting an audience. If there's any source that people point to, it's dreams and experiences.

    When my wife and I sit down to watch one of these just to see how bad they are, we inevitably hear the person talk about a dream that they had or an experience that they had. The problem with this is that you have no way of knowing that this comes directly from God. Instead, it is given the same divine authority that one would give to the Bible. That sets up a dangerous precedent.*

    It's possible that the dream you have could be from God. It's also possible that it could be you had too much pizza for dinner that evening and your brain did some funky things. If you answer that question wrongly, you're risking having it be "God said" when God did no such thing. I keep thinking I want to see a Babylon Bee article with a headline of something like "Local woman fully submits Scripture to the authority of her dreams."

    The next step is always confirmation. This is the funniest one to me. If you can find some tie in with your theory in someone else's life, then that is confirmation. If two people both happen to dream about end times events, then that's confirmation. I mean, what are the odds that on a planet with six billion plus people and many of them Christians that someone could dream about an interpretation of Christian doctrine?

    Recently, my wife and I heard a story about an asteroid coming close to the Earth. It won't hit, but it will be within*26,000 miles of Earth. I'm waiting for a story with one of these YouTube prophets calling someone about a dream they had about this is a sign that Jesus is coming and when they called a friend about it, the friend was playing Asteroids on their computer. Confirmation!

    No. It is not confirmation. It's no more confirmation than Mormons having a burning in the bosom is confirmation. Unfortunately, this is something that baby Christians are set up for. Give them thinking like this and it won't be long until a group like the Mormons comes along.

    Please don't think that the problem in my position here is people believing in futurism. It's not. My own wife is a futurist. The problem is people claiming to be prophecy experts and they're not. They'll jump to any passage of Scripture and rip it out of its historical context and then say that this has confirmed their dream or experience.

    The result is that like this Christian in the group today, many Christians will be living terrified. What happens after awhile when nothing happens? There's always a possibility that not only will they stop believing YouTube prophets, which would be a good thing, but they will stop believing the Biblical prophets, including Jesus. Christianity gets married to the end times madness.*

    Another greater danger is our appearance to unbelievers. These kinds of people are the ones the media loves to point to as examples of Christian thinkers. They won't go to any of the real intellectuals in Christian circles to hear their thoughts for the most part. Instead, it will be going to those who are sensational.

    There's a reason James says not many should be teachers. If you are a YouTube prophet type, please hesitate before you put that video up. If you are wrong, you are leading others astray. I'm not saying that God can't speak through a dream or experience. He very well might have. I am saying to be very cautious before you treat it as an authority and before you encourage others to treat your own dreams and experiences as an authority.

    It's also why to an extent, I've taken with calling these people out on their videos on YouTube and more of us should. We do not need this representation of Christianity to the world and it is one that undermines our doctrines of Scripture. It's especially important to be able to defend young Christians from teachings like this.*

    As I told this person in the group, I have been through several end of the world scenarios. I went through Y2K, Harold Camping twice, the four blood moons, 2012, Rosh Hashanah this year, everything. If I was a doctor and I never made the right diagnosis, would you listen to me? If I was a politician who never broke my word, would you vote for me? If I was a lawyer and I never won a case, would you want me to represent you in court?

    Then why listen to end times prophecy experts who have the same record?

    In Christ,
    Nick Peters

  • #2
    I dreamt you were gonna write this

    I'm always still in trouble again

    "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
    "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
    "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
      I dreamt you were gonna write this
      woah. And I dreamt you were going to write that you dreamt about him writing that post! So that must be confirmation! I sense that this could mean that Jesus is coming back soon and he is bringing tacos*.


      *Because I also dreamed about tacos last night.

      Comment


      • #4
        I've had one or two dreams that were accurate about the future* down to the tiniest detail, but I wouldn't go making predictions based on dreams.

        *Usually the very next day. I also have a lot of deja vu. Gets kind of creepy at times.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Cerebrum123 View Post
          I've had one or two dreams that were accurate about the future* down to the tiniest detail, but I wouldn't go making predictions based on dreams.

          *Usually the very next day. I also have a lot of deja vu. Gets kind of creepy at times.
          I have spookily accurate memories about the past. I can remember things that actually happened in the past. It's like I am a past-prophet or something. But it only works in events at which I was present. I can't seem to remember other people's pasts unless I was there or was watching it on TV in the past.

          Comment


          • #6
            I have dreams I don't usually remember.
            sigpic

            Comment


            • #7
              . . . and why would a futurist be afraid of the return of Christ?
              Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by TheWall View Post
                I have dreams I don't usually remember.
                then how do you know you had them?

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                  then how do you know you had them?
                  I can remember dreaming just not what I dreamed.
                  sigpic

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by TheWall View Post
                    I can remember dreaming just not what I dreamed.
                    what if you were just dreaming that you dreamed but you were not really dreaming at all? Hmmm? Then what? Huh?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                      what if you were just dreaming that you dreamed but you were not really dreaming at all? Hmmm? Then what? Huh?
                      My goodness.
                      Someone get me a table to flip.
                      sigpic

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by TheWall View Post
                        My goodness.
                        Someone get me a table to flip.
                        I call tails.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Bacon. I dream of bacon.

                          I'm always still in trouble again

                          "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                          "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                          "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            My brain puts on actual movies! And sometimes the plot actually makes sense!
                            If it weren't for the Resurrection of Jesus, we'd all be in DEEP TROUBLE!

                            Comment

                            Related Threads

                            Collapse

                            Topics Statistics Last Post
                            Started by Apologiaphoenix, 03-15-2024, 10:19 PM
                            14 responses
                            74 views
                            1 like
                            Last Post rogue06
                            by rogue06
                             
                            Started by Apologiaphoenix, 03-13-2024, 10:13 PM
                            6 responses
                            61 views
                            0 likes
                            Last Post Apologiaphoenix  
                            Started by Apologiaphoenix, 03-12-2024, 09:36 PM
                            1 response
                            23 views
                            0 likes
                            Last Post rogue06
                            by rogue06
                             
                            Started by Apologiaphoenix, 03-11-2024, 10:19 PM
                            0 responses
                            22 views
                            2 likes
                            Last Post Apologiaphoenix  
                            Started by Apologiaphoenix, 03-08-2024, 11:59 AM
                            5 responses
                            50 views
                            0 likes
                            Last Post Apologiaphoenix  
                            Working...
                            X