[slap_j]

Originally Posted by BillSPrestonEsq

so scripture doesn't matter now, what the heck?!?!

Umm, I didn't say that. I said that I am a cessationist, meaning that if this "discerning of spirits" is a spiritual gift like speaking in tongues then I believe that people no longer have such a gift.

[BillSPrestonEsq]

Read 1 corinthians 12. it does not allow for this reading for it is not speaking of anything foundational, but the continuing function of the body

[GRibbit]

Well, in reading this thread I've been able to have some things answered...but I'm definatley coming back to post here because some of what's been said pertaining demonic posession today contradicts things I've read recently. Anyway I'll be back later tonight with more...

[MrCrabby]

It doesn't really matter, I am a cessationist.

Prophecy, discerning of spirits, etc. are gifts of the Spirit. They have nothing to do with cessationism.
I happen to have the gift of prophecy. Does that mean I can predict the future? No. It means that God has given me great foresight and perception, I can realize future problems that might arise before anyone else sees them.
This does not pertain to cessationism, it is a gift used for the edification of the body.

[slap_j]

Originally Posted by GzusPhreek2k

Prophecy, discerning of spirits, etc. are gifts of the Spirit. They have nothing to do with cessationism.
I happen to have the gift of prophecy. Does that mean I can predict the future? No. It means that God has given me great foresight and perception, I can realize future problems that might arise before anyone else sees them.
This does not pertain to cessationism, it is a gift used for the edification of the body.

How do you know that is a spiritual gift and not coincidence?

[backtoreality]

Hello
Going waaaayyyy back now to something someone mentioned earlier. There was discussion over the causes of mental illnesses and how they could not be demons. The main problem I have with that is that there are many mental afflictions, which at least look and seem quite real, that cannot be assigned a cause. I just thought that you guys should consider that because nobody else brought it up and it seems like a valid point to me. No one truely knows the cause of schizophrenia, they just know some things that tend to (therefore correlation as opposed to causation) occur when schizophrenia happens. There's also MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder, also called DID Dissociative Identity Disorder), and several of the personality disorders like OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, know also as Scrupulosity) or BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder). Granted, I do not speak in any way as an expert and am fully aware that many causes have been stipulated but as far as I know there are still many without a proven cause. Please correct me if I have made a mistake, I would hate to start a tangent that had bad information.

[jdironfist]

Originally Posted by backtoreality

Hello
Going waaaayyyy back now to something someone mentioned earlier. There was discussion over the causes of mental illnesses and how they could not be demons. The main problem I have with that is that there are many mental afflictions, which at least look and seem quite real, that cannot be assigned a cause. I just thought that you guys should consider that because nobody else brought it up and it seems like a valid point to me. No one truely knows the cause of schizophrenia, they just know some things that tend to (therefore correlation as opposed to causation) occur when schizophrenia happens. There's also MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder, also called DID Dissociative Identity Disorder), and several of the personality disorders like OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, know also as Scrupulosity) or BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder). Granted, I do not speak in any way as an expert and am fully aware that many causes have been stipulated but as far as I know there are still many without a proven cause. Please correct me if I have made a mistake, I would hate to start a tangent that had bad information.

Very true.

Originally Posted by slap_j

How do you know that is a spiritual gift and not coincidence?

Probably either a hypothetical situation (in which case it doesn't matter anyway) or GzuzPhreek has done it multiple times with extreme accuracy. I know that my girlfriend has a tendency to realize when something's going to happen (almost a sixth sense, really) and she has never been wrong. Either she's really lucky, which isn't likely, or it's a spiritual gift (or something different).