Dear W,
I agree with what you have written in the first part of your post. Doctrine which is elastic enough to change as the Holy Spirit reveals more of Himself is ok in my book. It is dogma that I object too. Also, I object to the Holy Spirit being made to submit (in practice though not in reality) to our doctrine.
When I speak about hearing the voice of God (i.e. the Holy Spirit) it is a bit different than many people might assume. First of all, the Holy Spirit is God and when God speaks to us it is not an emotion but a person. It is direct communication with God like the apostles experienced. God spoke to Peter and said,
"And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common."
Acts 10:15
and,
When God spoke to Philip,
"then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot."
Acts 8:29
So, this is not emotion or just a feeling I am talking about. Many times because people are emotional when God's Spirit interacts with them or they describe what happens to them as a "feeling" people think they are just making up stuff. To be sure there is a lot of fanaticism and people sometimes make up things but what I am talking about is the genuine article. Teaching, while profitable, leads to legalism and spiritual death if it is not done through the Spirit of God.
So, I do hear what you are saying and I think you may be starting to understand where I am coming from. I am a bible scholar and I do value the word and doctrine. However, I have come to realize that we have "over emphasized" doctrine and many times elevated far above where it should be, even over of the Spirit Himself.
Dear N,
I feel your zeal yet I know that you are not getting what I am saying clearly. The Spirit and the word agree. They agree because they Spirit wrote the word. In fact, the Spirit proceeds the scripture because the scripture came from the Spirit. (I am not talking about the Logos in case you are wondering.)
So, it is not that people seek after experience as much as they seek after God. They want to experience God and this, in my book, is a very good thing. Those who wish to make due with a intellectually Christianity do themselves a disservice. It is amazing to me that I can state clearly the way things are and those who read it simply cannot understand. Truly, we need spiritual eyes to see and spiritual ears to hear. I am not trying to down you are even think of myself higher than you...these things were given to me and I did not come up with them. I just don't know how to explain it to you so you can understand. May you could try praying and asking God to reveal what He is saying (if He is saying anything) in what I am writing.
I suppose I am currently wondering how I might explain myself better. To me these things make a lot of sense but it is very difficult to tell others about them so that they can understand. When someone who speaks in other tongues tries to relate the experience to someone who has only experienced salvation there is a gulf between them that is difficult to bridge. In the same way, when I speak to others about the tabernacle experience it is difficult to bridge the gap between those who have not had the benefit of this experience. I guess, it depends upon the openness of the person to the Spirit. Some, who have just experienced salvation, jump at the chance to be filled with His Spirit and speak in other tongues. I think it will be like this with the Tabernacle experience too. I tell you though, starting to become one with God and feeling His divine love flow through you knocks the socks off of anything else I have ever encountered in God.
Blessings,
Justin