Ineffective Holy Spirit

A lot of remarkable claims are made by Christians about the Holy Spirit. Often they are exaggerated. Claims such as “A touch from the holy spirit is something profound.”

However, if you are a Christian and you have discussed your experiences with other Christians you will find that the standard experience is simply just a bit of a buzz, nothing more. This buzz usually takes place when meditating or in a room full of people where the music and atmosphere can bring on a sense of euphoria, much like you might get in a rock concert. This buzz will always be put down to Christians as a touch from God or the Holy Spirit.

The bible also makes many remarkable claims about the Holy Spirit. In fact many of these claims are assurances/absolute guarantees:

 

1)      It will be given to those who ask.

Luke 11:11-13 Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"

2)      Guides the church and convicts of sin (John 16:8-13)

3)      Imparts power, boldness and strength (Eph 3:16)

4)      Will teach all things and bring all things to remembrance.

John 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

 

BUT in reality:

 

• There is no guarantee you'll be able to recall scripture and give convincing answers to questions when they are asked.
• The Holy Spirit is not effective enough to minister to the new convert without other Christians being involved to guide and teach them.
• It requires regular contact with other Christians to validate your beliefs and prevent you from backsliding.
• The average Christian is not able to give a defence of scripture. To do this, one must have the appropriate learning skills… as per Bloom’s Taxonomy
  Also see my article "Understanding the Bible"

 

All damning evidence that the Holy Spirit is either ineffective or non-existent.

 

If you’re not convinced and you are a Christian who claims to be filled with the Holy Spirit, attempt this survey. Give a True/False answer for each:

 

1)      I am always able to remember scriptures when I need to quote one

2)      I understand everything I read in the bible and always interpret it correctly

3)      I always have good answers for every question asked me about the bible

4)      Every spirit-filled Christian I know agrees with everything I say about God and the Bible.

5)      Every true Christian church in my city operates under the same doctrines.

6)      I feel convicted over every sin I commit.

7)      I always know what to do in any situation when it comes to my Christian walk.

8)      I always feel bold when it comes to sharing my faith.

9)      I am always able to cast out demons when the need arises.

10)  I am able to teach and guide other Christians.

 

If you answered “False” for even one of the above, then you have been severely let down by the Holy Spirit. In fact, the above verses have proven to be lies. In fact I’d go as far as to bet that you’ve answered false for just about all the above ten scenarios. This shows one of the following:

1. You don’t have the Holy Spirit in you, so are not a true Christian
2. The Holy Spirit cannot or will not do what the bible promises

 

If the Holy Spirit was everything Christians and the bible claim it to be, we would see the following:

 

• Christians would be able to quote scripture at the drop of a hat without having to spend hours and hours memorising it
• Christians would be able to give a consistent interpretation of the bible. There would be no disagreements about any given scripture.
• Every Christian would have an arsenal of convincing arguments that could convince even the hardest sceptic. After all, the Holy Spirit should be far superior in debate than any Atheist.
• There will be unity in every Christian church and no disagreements on doctrine.
• There would not be thousands and thousands of denominations
• There would be no need for mature Christians to guide the new ones.

  

Many Christians reading this will want to downplay the role of the Holy Spirit at this point and claim that our freewill will trump the teaching of the Holy Spirit. They will say that even though the Holy Spirit may prompt a Christian, it does not control what they say or do. Maybe not, but still clearly the bible makes false claims about the potency of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, until the sceptic can see unity amongst Christians, how can any unbeliever be expected to take anything Christians say seriously? This is not a minor issue here, this is huge and until it is resolved, very few people will get the right message from the bible and billions will burn in Hell because of it.

 

I propose the following solution to this problem:

 

Every Christian church in the city should send a representative to a combined meeting. Each representative will be chosen by the people in their congregation based on who they respect and admire the most for their Godliness and wisdom. These representatives can then meet and determine a representative for the city, once again based on who appears to be the truest Christian out of them. All the major cities can then send in their representatives for yet another meeting, this one for their entire country. If necessary, they could elect further representatives, perhaps to meet for a worldwide meeting. With the Holy Spirit in charge, I’m sure just these smaller groups would do fine as now we have weeded out the false Christians and have a bunch of True Christians who are holy spirit filled and who are all hearing from God himself.

These groups will then be able to go through the bible with a fine toothcomb and determine the correct interpretations and explanations for everything, thus showing Christian unity and thus being able to publicise once and for all, the true interpretations of scripture. There would then no longer need to be any more denominations, arguments and disunity. There would be just one united church under God and thus the prayer of Jesus and the desires of Paul will at last be fulfilled.

Is this too much to ask? Is it a fantasy? Surely not! With God all things are possible and surely he would want his people to get the correct interpretation of his word? Surely the Holy Spirit will impart consistent wisdom to those few truly spirit-filled Christians?

Yes, it is too much to ask, isn’t it? Because even the staunchest of Christians knows that there is no way anyone is going to be able to come to an agreement on what the bible is saying. They know that the Holy Spirit is incapable of achieving such a thing. There will continue to be thousands of denominations, religions, sects and cults because the bible is just way too open for interpretation. There is no supernatural entity coming upon people to help them gain a correct understanding of scripture. There is no magical being giving people the words to say or empowering them with strength. There just isn’t and you know it!