Comments on: We Need Scripture to Help us Make Decisions. But we need the Spirit too. We need Jesus https://anitamathias.com/2012/10/18/beyond-the-letter-of-scripture-we-need-the-spirit-to-help-us-interpret-the-word-we-need-jesus/ Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art Sun, 18 Oct 2015 21:36:37 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 By: Anita Mathias https://anitamathias.com/2012/10/18/beyond-the-letter-of-scripture-we-need-the-spirit-to-help-us-interpret-the-word-we-need-jesus/#comment-18643 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:23:35 +0000 http://anitamathias.com/blog/?p=33650#comment-18643 In reply to LA.

I guess the people i like listening to–Bill Johnson (who has a lovely book called Dreaming with God), John Arnott, Heidi Baker etc apparently have gone deeper in the things of God than I have, and have a deeper relationship apparently, and connected more to the waterfall of his power.

When I hear from someone like Heidi Baker or Bill Johnson who seem to have a qualitatively different relationship, I am like, “Wow, so this is possible. I must experiment more.”

Sometimes, when I feel stale in my faith, it’s nice to hear from someone who has reached heights I have not. Also, I find the very act of taking a break from my daily life and thinking about it, and seeing if it’s in tune with God very helpful.

Of course, we are in transition. My husband had a regular academic job, as a Math Professor till 2010, when he took early retirement. We are still figuring out how to do life without the structures of a regular job. The conferences were part of an attempt I’ve described in the blog as “chasing the wild goose of the Holy Spirit,” and trying to encounter him more deeply.

]]> By: LA https://anitamathias.com/2012/10/18/beyond-the-letter-of-scripture-we-need-the-spirit-to-help-us-interpret-the-word-we-need-jesus/#comment-18642 Sun, 21 Oct 2012 13:26:48 +0000 http://anitamathias.com/blog/?p=33650#comment-18642 Very nice…we agree 100%. Which is why it astonishes me how much you enjoy these evangelical workshops. They are all about assigning scripture sound bites to concrete bits of life and following only the speaker’s interpretation of those bits. Maybe in Britain they are different, but here they are all about beating people over the head with scriptural verses, pulled out of context and assigned meanings that are narrow and don’t allow us to get to know Christ for ourselves.

I often say that the only two beings invited to our judgement day are me and God. And saying “because *they* told me to” is not going to cut the mustard. We must own our faith, and build that personal relationship ourselves so that even if we’re not perfect, we can individually own each and every one of our decisions. While I like to draw from many different people’s thoughts, ultimately, there will be no one standing in my stead…I will be there alone, naked with my choices and my relationship with Jesus to answer for my life.

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