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 Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:51 am
 There are many sincere believers in the body of Christ who believe that certain gifts of the Spirit are no longer required for the church today. According to them, the "sign gifts" were only for the apostolic age when Christianity was in its infanthood. Now that the faith has already been established, and the canon of scripture closed (all the books of the Bible gathered in one Book), they are no longer needed. Such gifts are tongues, interpretation, prophesy, healing and miracles. Is this true? Do you think that God still give us these gifts? Discuss.
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 3:04 pm
Yeah! I have a few awesome gifts but two of them play major roles in my life. I have a big gift of discernment to the point I can get a sickening feeling in my stomach and premonition dreams. I've had the dreams since I was little. I had one when I was 8 and it came true a year later. I still remember every detail about it.
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 3:48 pm
I've not seen someone speak tongues, at least not in person. I've seen people attempt to speak tongues in documentaries, but none of it seems to be the Holy Spirit. The circumstances in which it's happened seems to be social pressure and the idea that you want the Holy Spirit to fill you, but the way to do that is to speak in tongues. *shakes head*
What also ruins it for me is when I see people do that, they don't have anyone interpreting what they're saying. If there's no one interpreting what you say in tongues, then your gift is useless, lol. What's the point? It just comes off as gibberish to everyone else. No one gets any benefit from it but you trying to make it look like you're speaking some language of angels. Doesn't work that way.
I suppose another gift that people tend to doubt is prophecy. But prophets of the church are not so much people who can tell the future. No one can know the future, and no one can know the time Jesus comes. I think that's one big mistake many "prophets" make.
I believe prophets are those who are able to reveal the Word to others. They remind us of the Truth; when we might not understand God's word, a prophet will in a much deeper way. God speaks directly to prophets, and I do believe there are still prophets today. It's just that one has to make sure the word any proclaimed prophet speaks does not deviate from the canon we have today. We can use the Word to test any prophet; that's what God wants us to do. He doesn't want us listening to a false prophet after all.
Healing... well, I think many people over the years have misused this gift. You have faith healers who tend to use it as a means to draw attention to themselves, in which I would have to call them liars and not for God's glory. I honestly do not know if the kind of healing we see in the bible happens anymore, but I have read modern stories of cases, real cases, of people experiencing healing that I can only attribute to God. It just seems to be subtle nowadays, is all.
As for miracles... I think people need to be careful about miracles. If we go searching for them, we're only going to disappoint ourselves. We're going to end up leading ourselves towards things that are not of God. But real miracles can sometimes be things we take for granted: someone converting, a baby being conceived, a baby being born, a person overcoming their own sins, etc. I mean, part of us know those things are special, and we celebrate them, but we should have even more joy about them because they are miraculous things. They really are.
I have one very dear friend who has been struggling to conceive with her husband for a while. She did once and had a miscarriage. It was very sad, but after she overcame that sadness, that doubt, she tried again. And praise to God, she's pregnant again! So far, everything is going very well. What a miracle, right? I think so. 3nodding
The bigger miracles that we see in the bible seemed to be ones that were used to lead people to the first church, to help build it up and give people faith. Maybe... it's hard to say. I don't go looking for big miracles; I only celebrate ones that happen to come my way without me seeking them out, or ones that people share with me from their own experience.
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Posted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 1:50 am
Yes.
When someone presents me with a Scripture saying that certain gifts of the Spirit will, in the future, cease, I will reconsider my position.
The Holy Spirit gives gifts as He wills (1 Cor. 12:11) for the common good (v. 7).
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