Does the Holy Spirit guide Christians to truth?

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Needy1

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The Holy Spirit would, according to John 16:13. Then why are there so many Christian Churches and denominations?

Is there a some truths exist? If not, most part of called Christians are not guided by the Holy Spirit? Or what. Why.
 
The holy spirit guides the Catholic Church to truth. It’s up to the individual Christan to accept that truth. It’s easier said than done in many cases especially for people brought up in non Catholic or anti Catholic environments.
 
Needy1 said:
The Holy Spirit would, according to John 16:13. Then why are there so many Christian Churches and denominations?
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Because people are fickle, fallen, and we are often more motivated by our own desires and our own beliefs than by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. And, God in his charity, allows us the freedom to choose.
Needy1 said:
Is there a some truths exist?
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Yes, truth exists and it matters. It is up to us to be seekers of truth.
 
Good answers. The Holy Spirit guides only one Church. The Holy Spirit guides individual persons as it pertains to their personal life. Because many aren’t founded on the rock they mistake that guidance for what it really is.and think they are supposed to start a church.

As already mentioned many aren’t able to distinguish the voice of the Holy Spirit from their own spirit or even the evil spirit. They may apprehend truth the but it is distorted by their clouded intellect.
 
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Mankind suffers from a darkened intellect as a result of Original Sin. Our intuition about right and wrong is to some extent flawed because of our tendency to be self-absorbed and self-centered.

The cacophony of various false or partially false prophets in the world get in the way of discerning truth. C.S. Lewis (and others) talked about how in Heaven, there are two beautiful things that are enjoyed: silence and music. But the enemy is all about noise. Not music or silence, but noise.

Our life experiences create schemata in our minds that quickly result in pre-conceived biases about all sorts of things. From a survival perspective this is useful because we can quickly fill in the blanks to know what might likely be safe or unsafe, friend or foe. But this also means blind loyalty, nationalism/tribalism, and various prejudices, and this can make it difficult to consider teachings that are different than what you were taught in childhood.

Invincible ignorance prevents a person from knowing everything about the truth. With our inborn reason we can come to know certain things, which is why you can study and find a lot of good in writings from Socrates or Confucius or others. But divine revelation is impossible to know without evangelization and exposure to the truth directly from the Church.
 
The Holy Spirit does try to guide each individual Christian to truth but there are other internal and external “guides” vying for his attention and it is not always easy for him to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit from those other competing voices, namely, “the flesh, the world, and the devil,” I.e., the Christian’s own fallen human nature, other men, and demons.

In addition, the Holy Spirit guides Christians to truth collectively through the Church’s leaders. See Ephesians 4:11-14, Acts 20:17,28. At first, these Church leaders included “the apostles and the elders” (Acts 15:2), under the leadership of and in communion with St Peter, and now these Church leaders include the bishops of the Catholic Church, under the leadership of and in communion with St Peter’s successor, the bishop of Rome (the pope).

However, many Christians “reject authority” (Jude 1:8) and chose not to “obey your leaders and submit to them” (Hebrews 13:17), “having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)
 
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Needy1 said:
The Holy Spirit would, according to John 16:13.
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If you back up and read verses 1-15 in context it is easy to see, from the like 24 times Jesus uses the word YOU, that He is speaking directly to the disciples the guidance into all truth He is speaking of here is for them and not for every person who says they are Christian. Just back up one verse it says…I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. It’s pretty evident here that Jesus is speaking directly to them here.

Now don’t get me wrong here I do believe we are guided by the Holy Spirit in our faith journey, however, I do not believe that the Holy Spirit declares to us the “things to come” or declares Jesus authority to every single Christian to speak on His behalf.
Needy1 said:
Then why are there so many Christian Churches and denominations?
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In my opinion because those people believe all Christians were given Christs authority to speak on His behalf. Which is no where found to be a teaching of the Apostles.

Hope this helps,

God Bless
 
Needy1 said:
The Holy Spirit would, according to John 16:13. Then why are there so many Christian Churches and denominations?

Is there a some truths exist? If not, most part of called Christians are not guided by the Holy Spirit? Or what. Why.
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Re: The HS. Jesus makes this point.

Jn 16:12 “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."

Combine that with

Jn 17:20 “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me 22 The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me. "

IOW,
  1. the HS doesn’t lead/guide anyone into division from the Church Jesus established on Peter and those in union with Peter. Because that is NOT what Jesus teaches. And the HS only teaches what comes from Jesus.
Who divides? Satan divides.

Re: Jesus and union?
  1. The union Jesus wants is PERFECT UNION, ( Jn 17:23) just as He and the Father are PERFECTLY ONE that’s what He wants for His Church.
Re: division?

All the divisions/ sedition/ dissensions/ schisms/sects/ διχοστασίαι we see from the Catholic Church that is all condemned.

Where is that taught?

That same Greek word διχοστασίαι is used in both Rm 16:17-21 & Gal 5:19-21 for division / dissension / sects

Note the consequences for the one who dies in that sin? (Gal 5:21) “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. “

It doesn’t get worse than that.
 
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Because a lot of people refuse the Holy Spirit. They choose themselves over God.
 
Needy1 said:
The Holy Spirit would, according to John 16:13. Then why are there so many Christian Churches and denominations?
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13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

People forget that this was spoken by Jesus to His One Church. The HS does guide individual believers, but only within what He has revealed to the Church.

Later the Apostle John also writes of those who departed from the Apostolic Teaching:

19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us. (I John 2)

He also writes about those who reject the Apostolic authority"

“(Diotrephes and Demetrius) I have written something to the church; but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority.” 3 John 1:9

Those who refuse to acknowledge the authority Jesus gave to the Apostles have always rebelled, and “gone out from us”.
Needy1 said:
Is there a some truths exist? If not, most part of called Christians are not guided by the Holy Spirit? Or what. Why.
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Yes, a Truth exists.

Yes, Christians are guided by the HS, but those who depart from the One Faith, given to the Apostles and preserved infallibly in the Church by the HS, are not protected from going astray.
 
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MT1926 said:
If you back up and read verses 1-15 in context it is easy to see, from the like 24 times Jesus uses the word YOU, that He is speaking directly to the disciples the guidance into all truth He is speaking of here is for them and not for every person who says they are Christian. Just back up one verse it says…I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now . It’s pretty evident here that Jesus is speaking directly to them here.

Now don’t get me wrong here I do believe we are guided by the Holy Spirit in our faith journey, however, I do not believe that the Holy Spirit declares to us the “things to come” or declares Jesus authority to every single Christian to speak on His behalf.
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You are so right to “back up” and look at the persons to whom this passage was addressed. Jesus is instructing His fledgling Church, which He anointed with “all authority”.
MT1926 said:
Now don’t get me wrong here I do believe we are guided by the Holy Spirit in our faith journey, however, I do not believe that the Holy Spirit declares to us the “things to come” or declares Jesus authority to every single Christian to speak on His behalf.
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I agree with you, but I do believe that the HS will lead all those who are walking in the Truth He has already revealed to His One Body, the Church.

You are right that many Christians misunderstand what is written, and therefore think that these passages apply to every single Christian.

Although Scripture is written for all of us, it is not written ABOUT all of us.
 
So the answer is the free will?

Then, why most Christians who are baptized are still getting deceived by devil? I’m saying this because they’re choosing the devil instead of the Holy Spirit according to these answers. Or will of man not devil. Why didn’t baptism change them?
They should have changed according to John 3:3-5, and the Paul’s epistles. How can anyone who reborn by the water and the spirit still being the slave of devil or man?
 
Needy1 said:
Then, why most Christians who are baptized are still getting deceived by devil? I’m saying this because they’re choosing the devil instead of the Holy Spirit according to these answers. Or will of man not devil. Why didn’t baptism change them?
They should have changed according to John 3:3-5, and the Paul’s epistles. How can anyone who reborn by the water and the spirit still being the slave of devil or man?
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Because Baptism doesn’t take away our free will or our concupiscence or proclivity to error. Baptism gives us supernatural grace that was missing from our soul…makes us become members of God’s Family. But we still have our fallen human nature to deal with. That’s why Jesus gave us a Church to lead us, and the Sacraments to feed and heal us.
 
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You just gave me a thought.

My mom and brother both hold Criminal Justice degrees and had worked in the system for years. Also, several family members (cousins) were frequently in trouble with the law. So, I have witnessed a few things that make me want to apply the Criminal Justice system to this topic of the baptized walking back into darkness.

One of my cousins was in and out of prison. In prison, it was a place to get his act together. When released, he would return to his old hang outs, and then begin living a life of crime again. He repeated this cycle many times, until “death by cop” ended his story. It is very sad. Another cousin, his sister, also was in trouble with the law a lot. She eventually realized, to break the cycle of backsliding, she had to stay away from old friends and make new friends who made better choices.

Another thought occurred to me. A couple years after I became a Catholic, one of my daughters accused me jokingly of going through an identity crisis. At first, I wanted to be insulted, but the teacher in me said, “Think!” My daughter, without realizing it, made a most profound statement. As a new Catholic, as a new Christian, I better be going through an identity crisis. My world better look a whole lot different now than it did a couple years ago. It does…Thanks be!

Jesus forgives us our sins; he tells us if we love Him we will obey His commandments. When He draws us into the blessed Light, He tells us to “go and sin no more.” When people are baptized, they still have to make choices just like they did when before they were baptized. The Holy Spirit will guide us if we are open to Him.

I see too many try to live in the Kingdom and the World. Doesn’t work well. Maybe that is one reason why the baptized walk in darkness. No easy answer.
 
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Before I was a Catholic I had no formal religion but I had prayed for most of my life.

Who guided me to the Catholic Church if not the Holy Spirit.
So yes I’d say the Holy Spirit guides us all probably.
 
Todd_Easton said:
The Holy Spirit does try to guide each individual Christian to truth but there are other internal and external “guides” vying for his attention and it is not always easy for him to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit from those other competing voices, namely, “the flesh, the world, and the devil,” I.e., the Christian’s own fallen human nature, other men, and demons.
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I like your writing of St Paul about the temptation sources from the world, the flesh and the devil.

Test every spirits [John 4:1]

Pray. It is very easy to recognize them, because their nature is threatening or deceitful 😀 The Holy Spirit can also help to uncover their identities and reveal 😂. The quality of the Holy Spirit’s voice is highest outstanding beyond others and He can be in my secret thoughts or direct to other external sources or overwhelm my body… as He likes the ways to help.

God bless.
 
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toddy said:
It is very easy to recognize them, because their nature is threatening or deceitful
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It is not always easy to recognize them because they can disguise their true nature. St Paul said, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is not strange if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
 
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