October 23, 2008

Yesterday I was talking with a man, who openly admitted that he has had no experience with the Holy Spirit. He has, in the past, talked about attitudes and issues that Christianity refers to as demonic, but claims to have had no experiences with evil spirits. During the conversation, he mentioned that he has no tolerance for people that speak of things that are not possible for a human to know as if they know. He also mentioned that a person bases their understanding, not on who the speaker is, but on who they are. In other words, we understand based on our own experiences. To someone that has had no experience with the Holy Spirit, there is no revealed knowledge – there is no spiritual discernment – there is no understanding beyond what the human mind alone can understand, using only resources that are available to a human absent of the Spirit. The man wants to appear to be open minded, but admits that he has no tolerance for someone whose experiences are different than his own.

There is really a lot of that type of intolerance around. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true (John 8:17). Is it a good thing to base all of our understanding on our own experiences alone? If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word, and My Father shall love him. And We will come to him and will make a dwelling place with him (John 14:23 LITV). We have available the witness of the Father and the Son. The scripture verses, following that quote, speak of the coming of the Comforter – the Holy Spirit. With God there is a trust. God has put something into us. He sent His only begotten Son and the Holy Spirit. Those that have not yet experienced the Holy Spirit will not understand and may not be tolerant of those that have. But, it should not be the other way around – those with the Holy Spirit have a witness and should be an example to those that have not yet received the Spirit.

One definition of “tolerant” is “accepting different view points.” Another is “withstanding harsh treatment.” Still another is “no longer responding to, or suffering no illness from.” Some people claim that accepting different view points is wrong. But if one sees the fact that everyone is not at the same place as the one; then the one must admit that there exists a view from another point. Accepting that someone else sees from a different point of view (perspective) is both a kindness and a truth. With that acceptance of the truth, we can then move on to “no longer responding to, or suffering no illness from” a different point of view; while understanding that we may have to “withstanding harsh treatment” from people coming from other perspectives. They will not understand, and they will think that they are doing God a service when they persecute you.

It is of note to understand, someone that has not experienced the Holy Spirit may not recognize the evil spirits, and call them bad luck or blame the demonic manifestations on another person. There are different levels of misunderstanding. First, there is the misunderstanding of not having had an experience with the Holy Spirit. Second, there is the misunderstanding of having had an experience with an evil spirit; that has influenced understanding. Third there is the misunderstanding of one possessed or oppressed by an evil spirit; that continually confuses ones understanding. The just of it is there are some points of view that cannot see another point of view because of partial or total misunderstanding. Without the eye opening experience that comes with a relationship with God, there is a blindness or misunderstanding of spiritual things. Jesus came to be an eye opening experience for mankind.

Once I was blind but now I see, because of what Jesus has done for me. Jesus was tolerant. Jesus withstood harsh treatment and did not respond to the point of death. Jesus understood that His view point was different than ours; “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” Jesus has a point of view that I have never experienced. By faith in Him, I can have knowledge of something that I did not experience myself. It is not believing what I know, but knowing who and what I believe, that witnesses to my faith. Faith takes tolerance. I must understand that there exists another point of view, or be stuck in a world of my own making. But God created the world that I dwell in, and I can trust by faith in His point of view; even if it is beyond the understanding of the human mind alone.