Demonstration of Power

[Kratos]

We have been raised in Christendom to repeat that God expects us to believe by faith without seeing. Many non-believers see this as blatantly unfair especially when they are told that eternal torment is the cost of needing to see before they can believe in the invisible God.

Recently, I read a comment on a forum that said something to the effect that "no one ever came to repentence or to God through loosing an argument". This started me down the road to questioning the way of God that I have been taught concerning the establishment or restoring of truth. Let me give you a few Biblical examples:

Joh 14:10  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
Joh 14:11  Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.

Apparantly, Jesus had no problem with men believing in Him because of the works that they had seen with their own two eyes. He, also said, that it was meaningless if He bore witness of Himself, but that His Father in Heaven would bear witness that His doctrine was not His own, but was from the One who sent Him.

Mat 10:7  And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mat 10:8  Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

Here, Jesus is sending the 12 out to preach the gospel of the Kingdom in His Name. He tells them not only to preach the Kingdom, but to demonstrate the superiority of the Kingdom of God over what the people had been living in. Again, God saw no problem with demonstrating with signs following that what they were expecting people to believe was endorced by God in Heaven.

Luk 24:49  And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

Again, after the resurrection, those who had come out of Judaizm and were now followers of The Way were told to wait until they received "power from on high" to be His witnesses before men. Still, God is not expecting people to believe without seeing and He is willing to empower those who bring the truth so men have more than just their words to go on.

1Co 2:4  And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Finally, Paul states that God does not expect others to be convinced of the validity of the gospel that he preached with just the "enticing words of man's wisdom". Instead, he was sent in the "demonstration of the Spirit and of power".

Has anyone else noticed that we are not going to convince even the internet world that the gospel of UR is indeed the truth of God until we are endued with power from on high so we can demonstrate that God is with us of a truth as He bears witness by our works that our doctrine is not our own, but indeed His eternal truth?

John

[AbbasChild]

Just recently I felt led to pray everyday for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit on my life to share the true Good News. I think that most of us got so excited about UR as soon as we discoverd it, that we forgot the other important matters of the faith for a while. Well, that's certainly true for me. Thank you for reminding me of this, John.