{"id":68263,"date":"2024-06-05T15:59:08","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T20:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=68263"},"modified":"2024-06-05T15:59:08","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T20:59:08","slug":"how-do-i-deal-with-a-person-with-strange-beliefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-deal-with-a-person-with-strange-beliefs\/","title":{"rendered":"How do I deal with a person with strange beliefs?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

I had a conversation with a person of interesting beliefs. Their beliefs were:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Holy Spirit gave us the name “God” to comprehend him.<\/li>\n
  2. Aliens and other life forms have different religions, like having a different Christ, as we have.<\/li>\n
  3. The Holy Spirit didn’t mean everything literally, like in Genesis.<\/li>\n
  4. I go with whatever I believe like I believe Jesus is God and that he was the son.<\/li>\n
  5. Jesus was the one sent to inform us of God in a way we can comprehend.<\/li>\n
  6. I think praying to Mary and the saints is fine.<\/li>\n
  7. I believe that the holy water is the center of creation. As it was in the beginning.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Some of these I don’t know how to dispute, if you could give me an answer I’d appreciate it.<\/p>\n

    Also, I gave him a big biblical lesson on a phone call, but it didn’t change much. So, if you could help me understand and dispute it, that would be great.<\/p>\n\t

    Answer:<\/h2>\n

    If there is no commonality, no standard by which two people decide what is true, then there can be no converting another person to the truth. For example, The claim that aliens and other life forms have different religions is based on the person’s imagination. How many aliens has he interviewed about their religious beliefs? We have no evidence that there are other life forms in different worlds. Thus, the person makes decisions based on his imagination and not on his reason. He uses himself as his standard; thus, he believes he is always right.<\/p>\n

    Because of this, he contradicts himself. He claims the Holy Spirit gave us the name “God” to comprehend Him, but at the same time states that the Holy Spirit didn’t mean everything He said. How does a person know what is literal or not? He claims that Genesis is not literal. Based on what evidence? See “Is the biblical account of Creation not meant to be taken literally?<\/a>” Even the first statement is false. If I gave you my name, how much would you be able to tell about me? Could you actually say that you comprehend me? Does this person think that the infinite God can be comprehended by a single word? “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen<\/em>” (Romans 11:33-36).<\/p>\n

    If you are not able to get him to agree to use the Bible as the standard for determining the truth, there is no reason to waste additional time with him.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Question: I had a conversation with a person of interesting beliefs. Their beliefs were: The Holy Spirit gave us the name “God” to comprehend him. Aliens and other life forms have different religions, like having a different Christ, as we have. The Holy Spirit didn’t mean everything literally, like in Genesis. I go with whatever…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[451],"class_list":["post-68263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27880,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-faith-a-work-that-god-does-to-a-person\/","url_meta":{"origin":68263,"position":0},"title":"Is faith a work that God does to a person?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Recently someone told me that they believed that the work of God in John 6:29 means that God makes a person believe. I assume they think the Holy Spirit works in a person making them believe. I know that faith comes from hearing the Word of God but would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50868,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-have-faith-without-hope-or-hope-without-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":68263,"position":1},"title":"Can a person have faith without hope or hope without faith?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can a person have faith without hope or hope without faith? Answer: Faith is what a person trusts to be true. Hope is what a person expects to happen. The answer to your question then heavily depends on what topics are being believed or hoped for. A person could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23837,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-christadelphians-christians\/","url_meta":{"origin":68263,"position":2},"title":"Are Christadelphians Christians?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeff, I want to know if Christadelphians can be considered Christians. They preach the gospel and baptize scripturally. Just that some of their unbeliefs are frightening. Are they Christians even if they are compromised on some things? Thanks. Answer: The Christadelphians trace their roots back to a British\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18854,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-are-some-of-the-errors-of-wesleyans\/","url_meta":{"origin":68263,"position":3},"title":"What are some of the errors of Wesleyans?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When you get a minute could you put up some of the things Wesleyans are teaching falsely on the web site? Answer: The Wesleyan Church has its roots in the Methodist Church. In fact, it originally used the name Wesleyan Methodist Church of America from 1843, at its founding,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1387,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-are-the-jehovahs-witnesses-beliefs-about-the-godhead\/","url_meta":{"origin":68263,"position":4},"title":"What are the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ beliefs about the Godhead?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What are the Jehovah's Witnesses' beliefs concerning the Godhead Answer: According to The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life\u00a0published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in 1968: \"God's personal name is made known to us through his Word, the Bible, and that name is JEHOVAH\" (page 17).\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56225,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-we-pray-directly-to-the-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":68263,"position":5},"title":"Should we pray directly to the Holy Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, brothers in Christ. I heard a few Christians who would lead public prayers and at the end of their prayers, they would include the Holy Spirit (e.g \"Father, all these things we pray in the mighty name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen\").\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68263\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}