Subjective

     It was over between them.  The relationship she had thought would result in marriage had ended, and her heart was broken.  

     She missed him so much, and wondered if there was some way God could bring them back together.  Was this breakup just temporary? she wondered as she fingered the special keychain he had given her.  He had the same keychain, and it always felt like a link between them when they were apart.  Now, it felt like all she had left.  But no, this breakup was for the best, wasn't it?  She needed to move on, right?  She purposely left the keychain in her dorm room at the college when she left to fly home, knowing she would never see it again.  To her surprise, two weeks later, one of the profs was in the area and made a point to stop and see her.  He told her, "You left this at the school," and handed her the keychain that was a symbol of that relationship.  Was God bringing it back to her against all odds in order to have her hold out for him?  She tested in a few more times, leaving it in odd places, and in every instance, it was amazingly brought back to her.  This did a number on her heart, and she began to wonder if maybe this boyfriend would be back.  Was God using this keychain to tell her something?  

     Megan* was unsatisfied in her job and life in Los Angeles.  God had to have more than this for her, didn't He?  As she was considering this, she noticed several cars around her on the freeway that day with Oregon license plates.  Hmm.  That's interesting.  She had always wanted to go to Oregon.  Was this a sign?  The next day, it happened again.  She saw several Oregon license plates on her way to work.  Was God urging her to uproot and move?  

      Susan* was a Christian.  She had promised herself she would never marry a man who didn't share her faith in Jesus.  And yet she had fallen in love with an Orthodox Jew.  He was a kind, good man, who believed in God and loved her.  But he didn't embrace Jesus as the promised Messiah, and that was the deal-breaker.  Right?  While she was wrestling with this, a friend who lived 100 miles away surprised her by showing up late one night.  This friend claimed God had given a vision for Susan, and the friend had gotten on the next train out to share it.  Allegedly, God had told this friend to tell her that she should marry this Jewish man, because they both believed in God and that was good enough if they really loved each other.  Taking this as a divine word from the Lord, Susan went ahead and married this man she loved.  From the account of the story, they were happy together, and agreed to disagree about their faith.  But what's wrong with this scenario?  

     In 1820, a fourteen-year-old boy named Joseph Smith claimed to have been visited by God the Father and Jesus, who told him not to join any of the local churches, but to restore the true gospel.  This vision is the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or the Mormon church.  In fact, much of their religion rests of subjective experiences that can't be proven or disproven, such as determining truth through a burning in the bosom.  

     

     What are Christians supposed to do with subjective experiences?  The first two examples I gave were interesting occurrences, that may or may not be God's way of communicating something, but the second two were directly against God's word.  All four examples are missing something.  I repeat, what do we do with people's stories and testimonies that don't quite add up biblically?  

     The first story, about the keychain, was my story.  For a few weeks, it seemed like I couldn't get rid of that keychain.  I started referring to it as a boomerang, because it kept coming back to me, making me wonder if this past boyfriend were going to be back in my life.  It was interesting, and I can't account for all the odd ways it seemed to come back.  However, it got to the point where I was using it as a crystal ball, instead of trusting God Himself with my future.  When I realized this, I threw the keychain into the Pacific Ocean, and that time, it never came back.  

     Some look at stories and take them as pure gospel, changing their lives and beliefs to align with them.  They do this at the expense of all other beliefs, including biblical truth that might oppose their experience.  This is dangerous to base your life and decisions on something subjective.  Experiences do teach us things.  But we need to know how to rightly interpret them.  Second Timothy 2:15 says, Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  We need to decide before anything ever happens that we believe God's word to be the ultimate truth, and reject anything that goes against it.  We also need to be so aligned with God's word (which requires time, study and dedication) that when we do have a subjective experience, we know how to interpret it in light of what the Bible says.  Believers who are studied up in God's word know that Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light (Second Corinthians 11:14), and that he can mislead and deceive.  This is why we just can't believe something we think we're being told by some subjective feeling or experience.  The enemy knows how to attack.  It is also important to realize that when God guides us, He very well may use these types of subjective experiences, but He will do so in conjunction with His word, spiritually-led believers in your life, and what the Holy Spirit is impressing on you as you pray and seek Him.  When all of these things line up, your subjective experience is probably of the Lord.  

     Others go to the opposite extreme of saying, "If it isn't printed in the Bible, it isn't true and we don't believe it."  These people not only don't fall for untrue messages associated with subjective experiences, but they deny them altogether, even when they align with the Bible.  While I respect their desire to stay with the Bible, I find people who say this often deny the work and power of the Holy Spirit to work in our lives today.  

     People in the Bible had these experiences of hearing from God and experiencing supernatural guidance.  It would take a long time to look at every example, but let's just examine a few.  He spoke to Noah and told him to build the ark (Genesis 6:13ff).  He spoke to Abram (later Abraham) and led him out of his land, and gave him the promise (Genesis 12:1-3).  He very specifically guided Abraham's servant in finding a wife for Isaac (Genesis 24), including several things that would have been pretty strong coincidences without God's involvement.  One of my favorite examples is Elijah, in First Kings 17-19.  God spoke to him and through him, and guided him.  If God did this for these biblical believers, why not us today?  It is vital to note that He will never lead us against His written word, but within obedience to the Bible, the Holy Spirit can propel us into any number of directions.  His plans for me are different than His plans for you, but we're guided by the same Spirit, and will always align with the Bible.  In the Bible, when God spoke to people, they knew it was Him, and we really do too, when we're honest with ourselves.  

     Subjective experiences can't be our main source of truth, even if they are of God.  They need to be subservient to the Bible.  Even when something is real and true, it is easy to doubt it.  Gideon had that problem.  In Judges 6, Gideon asked God for a sign that he would win the battle.  He left a fleece out and asked that it would be wet with dew the next day, but the ground around it would be dry...and God honored his prayer.  It was exactly as Gideon had prayed.  But then Gideon wanted further confirmation, and asked for the reverse to be true the next day, dry fleece and wet ground. Again, it happened as he prayed.  God was at work, and He gave Gideon these signs, as He sometimes does for us, but He also knew that the sign in and of itself isn't enough.  It never is.  Having subjective experiences can encourage our faith, but our faith can't rest 100% in them.  These things can support what God is saying to us in the Bible, and we can think of those things when we need the faith boost, but by themselves, they're not the lens by which we should look at reality.  Our faith needs to rest in God, not His signs.  God tells us what He wants us to know about Him in the Bible, and that is the lens by which we need to look at everything that happens to us.  There are many apologetic reasons to believe in the Bible (which is an entirely other subject).  

     More than once, the Bible warns us not to be deceived (Matthew 4:24, First Corinthians 15:33, Galatians 6:7, Second Thessalonians 2:3).  It is your responsibility to avoid deception.  The best way to do that is to already know God's word, be dedicated to obeying and following it.  

     When I had that boomerang keychain that I eventually threw into the ocean, I was in deep grief over a broken relationship, and I was in what psychologists call the bargaining stage of that grief.  I was looking for a reason to believe there might be restoration, and chose to view that keychain as a sign...but it wasn't.  It didn't line up with the truth of the sitaution at all, and I eventually felt free hurling it into the ocean.  When Megan saw all those Oregon license plates, God may or may not have been using that to confirm a need to move, but she needed more time to seek God and His will for her life.  When Susan's friend felt compelled to take the train 100 miles to tell her to marry her unsaved boyfriend, she should have immediately looked to God's word, and thrown that out as deception.  As for Joseph Smith's 1820 revelation, anyone who considers that should also consider that everything he said and did in crafting his so-called restored church went against the Bible, and it should also be thrown out as a deception.  Just because someone has (or claims to have) an amazing experience doesn't mean it's true, or that the person interpreted it correctly.  

     Don't be deceived...read the Bible, and when you are doing so, the Holy Spirit in your heart, who knows the mind of God for you, can give you the guidance and direction you need!