Do any Christian groups/denominations encourage their members to seek personal revelations from the Holy Spirit to accurately interpret Scripture?

score:2

Accepted answer

Yes, this is a doctrine of tremendous importance to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Members of the church are regularly counseled to gain a personal witness through the Holy Ghost of the truthfulness of the doctrines taught in the scriptures and by church leaders.

Former church president Brigham Young taught:

I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are lead by him (see discussion of this quote and Harold B. Lee's paraphrase of it here)

What follows is a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints perspective.

--

Moroni's promise

The church's missionaries ask those they teach to test for themselves the promise (already referenced in depperm's answer) recorded in the final chapter of the Book of Mormon:

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

This passage indicates, among other things, that God will reveal truth by the Holy Ghost to those who seek in faith, with sincerity & real intent. In verse 4 a promise is made specifically with reference to the teachings of the Book of Mormon. Verse 5 expands the principle to point out that this is the means for accessing all truth. My own experience with this process is described in this video.

And from the manual used to train the church's missionaries:

This message of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ is either true or it is not. We can know that it is true by the power of the Holy Ghost, as promised in Moroni 10:3–5

Moroni and the church's modern-day missionaries are in layman's terms telling people "don't take our word for it, take God's word for it. You need not rely merely on our interpretation; God will tell you Himself."

--

Multiple lines of communication

Apostle Dallin H. Oaks has taught:

Our Heavenly Father has given His children two lines of communication with Him—what we may call the personal line and the priesthood line. All should understand and be guided by both of these essential lines of communication (see here).

and

This personal line of communication with our Heavenly Father through His Holy Spirit is the source of our testimony of truth, of our knowledge, and of our personal guidance from a loving Heavenly Father. It is an essential feature of His marvelous gospel plan, which allows each one of His children to receive a personal witness of its truth. (ibid)

My own experience is that, when the personal & priesthood channels of revelation are faithfully used, they do not lead to contradictory answers.

The scriptures represent one facet of the "priesthood line"--they were revealed through people with authorization to speak in the name of God.

Thus, Latter-day Saints do not embrace the doctrine of Sola Scriptura.

We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. (Articles of Faith 1:9)

And as apostle Jeffrey R. Holland explained:

the scriptures are not the ultimate source of knowledge for Latter-day Saints. They are manifestations of the ultimate source. The ultimate source of knowledge and authority for a Latter-day Saint is the living God. (see here)

To paraphrase the statement made by (then) Elder Russell M. Nelson here:

[what] was given by revelation...is best understood by revelation

--

Peter's confession

Matthew 16 records Peter's confession:

15 He saith unto them, But whom say aye that I am?

16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

This was before the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter knew who Jesus was by revelation from God. I recognize there are those who do not like what I will say next: the claim made by Latter-day Saints is that people today can know the truth about Jesus exactly the same way Peter did at this time.

We believe God speaks today as He did in the past, and He is just as willing to reveal truth to those who earnestly seek it today as He was 2,000 years ago.

--

Why is it hard?

Like learning any language, learning the language of the Spirit requires consistency and tremendous effort. During Jesus' mortal ministry, He gave more knowledge to those who were willing to receive it, and to those who were not, most of His teachings were just curious anecdotes.

Doctrine & Covenants 82:3 teaches:

For of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation. (see also parallel passage in Luke 12:47-48)

If God revealed a tremendous amount of information to somebody who wasn't ready to receive it, much less act on it, it would serve only to condemn the person--they would now be sinning against greater knowledge. So a merciful God reveals truth line upon line, precept upon precept, and very much expects the sincere heart & real intent described by Moroni.

--

Conclusion

Do any Christian groups/denominations encourage their members to seek personal revelations from the Holy Spirit to accurately interpret Scripture?

Yes, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches its members--and asks its missionaries to teach those learning about the church--to seek personal revelation from the Holy Ghost to know that the scriptures are true, to understand what they mean, and to know how to apply them in their lives.

I am unaware of any other denomination that teaches something comparable to Moroni's promise (referenced above), but I welcome the opportunity to read perspectives on this topic from those of other faiths. I would find those perspectives more edifying than attacks from those who are distressed that I have presented beliefs held only by a few.

If we want to have an accurate understanding of the scriptures, there is no better teacher than the one who inspired it - the Holy Spirit.

I wholeheartedly agree.


Disclaimer: my comments are the product of my own study and do not represent official statements by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Upvote:2

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints encourage their members to seek intimate personal revelation. There are hundreds of scriptures and talks by church leaders on this topic so I will only offer a brief summary. President Harold B Lee taught:

I say that we need to teach our people to find their answers in the scriptures. ... And if we hear someone teaching something that is contrary to what is in the scriptures, each of us may know whether the things spoken are false—it is as simple as that. But the unfortunate thing is that so many of us are not reading the scriptures. We do not know what is in them, and therefore we speculate about the things that we ought to have found in the scriptures themselves. ...

The Lord has given us in the standard works the means by which we should measure truth and untruth. May we all heed his word: “Thou shalt take the things which thou hast received, which have been given unto thee in my scriptures for a law, to be my law to govern my church.” (D&C 42:59.)1

Elder Dallin H Oaks said

Paul reminded his young friend “that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation” through faith in our Savior (2 Tim. 3:15). Hold fast to the scriptures, whose teachings protect us against evil.2

One of the most shared scriptures is Moroni 10:3-5

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

1 Find the Answers in the Scriptures

2 Be Not Deceived

See also Protecting Ourselves against the False Doctrines of the Last Days, Personal Revelation, and Search the Scriptures

all emphasis added by me

More post

Search Posts

Related post