The Movie "Doubt" and the Christian Concept of Power of Intuition

Yes. You have exactly described it.
I liken it to a little nudge.
I know it's not from me...it's a spiritual
nudge...say something, don't say anything...
person not to be trusted, etc.

Yeah, you're right on the money with this one Michelle. The intuition resides in the spirit of man (or woman)therefore it becomes stronger as we exercise it.

I encounter deceivers all the time who are not who or what as they appear, I have found that my first reaction is the correct one, and then the mind rushes in to actually cloud the subject with all kinds of "reasoning". But spiritual warnings can't be reasoned away; if we ignore these warnings, then we can walk into great danger. Great thread.

And the christian church will disown you, only their preachers, and Dubya, can talk to god.

When I think about this whole concept and the Holy Spirit speaking to us through our intuition, I start to get mad that when I first became a Christian, over 20 years ago now, no one explained to me these things or taught me how to exercise my intuition, or really, for that matter, explained to me anything to do with crucifying our flesh and "quieting" our mind so as to hear the intuition better. This whole concept/subject would, you think, be an important first step in educating a new Christian.



So when you make a decision, say about whether to take a particular job, do you spend quiet time with God and wait for Him to speak to your spirit/intuition? How do you make major decisions in your life?

god=higher self

Actually, quite the opposite is true. Only by living a crucified life through Jesus and abandoning our self are we brought closer to God and reconciled to Him. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through Jesus.

Jesus' flesh was crucified, and being the only sinless human to have ever lived, He was made the perfect sacrifice for us and was offered up as the sacrificial lamb for our sins.

Jesus said he wanted not his will but the Father's to be done. So, if the son of God himself said that he had to give us his own will -- or self -- to the Father, how much more so do we humans, being imperfect and full of sin, have to offer up our own self desires to be crucified? This is the life of a Christian, abandoning our own self desires and allowing them to be "crucified on the cross" to follow the will of the Father. And in exchange for giving up our own self desires, we get something much more powerful. But you don't see it this way because you're still living in darkness and think that there's this "higher self" in you that can save you and reconcile you to God. God doesn't want your "higher self." In fact, He thinks it's filthy rags to Him.

The gift of discernment cannot be overrated.

Love that passage in 1Kings too:

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

I love that passage too!

Actually, this speaks more of the core of Buddhist teachings. The "mind" is always trying to control the "self". Still the mind and let your voice be heard. That is the idea behind meditation practices of Buddhism.

I have not seen the movie yet, but something about it calls. I'm even more intrigued, now, with what you came away with, glad that you've chosen to share it- thank you.

I've often wondered why it is that human beings seem to be the only species that talk themselves out of what they 'know' and/or intuit.

"And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them."
(Ezekiel 36:27 KJV)

"This is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into
their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;"
(Hebrews 10:16 KJV)

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

(Romans 2:12-16)

Satan always tries to mimic the things of God. Buddhist teachings deny that Jesus was God in the flesh and the perfect sacrifice for our sins and the only way to reach the Almighty God. So with Buddhist teachings, yes, they are teaching that you have to still the mind to hear your voice, but what voice are they really listening to? With Christians, who have experienced the "new birth" through Jesus and have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit inside their spirit, they are listening to the voice of the Almighty God instead of the counterfeit or instead of their own voice. I'd much rather receive my instructions from the Creator of the universe than anything below that.

The acting was amazing! But who would expect anything less from Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. They're both brilliant. For me, though I loved the movie, it was so hard to watch the whole Catholic scene and the ridiculous rituals they perform. It reminded me of growing up Catholic and how dead that all seemed to me then and now. It made me sad to think that all those people are being deceived into thinking that it's of God when it is not.

Just sharing some thoughts…..

What is interesting about that passage in 1Kings is that it happens when Elijah goes to the cave and starts murmuring to God about how no one is listening to him, and basically feeling sorry for himself. (and hiding from Jezebel instead of trusting God)

God asks him "What are you doing here?" and Elijah says basically, "Oh no one is listening to me I am the only one who is faithful to you boo-hoo."

Then God sends the wind, earthquake, and fire…and the still small voice. After doing that he asks Elijah again "What are you doing here?" and Elijah answers with the SAME answer as before even AFTER God showed him that his ways are personal, often hidden, and sometimes mysterious. And, God showed him IN PLAIN SIGHT that he is in complete control. Elijah still did not get it. (He was human after all)

The next thing God says is…"Go anoint Elisha in YOUR place!" " I have 7,000 who are faithful to me in Israel." God was not pleased at that moment.

I believe that there is a hefty price to pay for not heeding and listening for that still small voice. AND, for thinking we are the only one who is responsible for God's work being done properly. (That's what they call the Holy Spirit syndrome. You know, when someone tries to be the Holy Spirit. I myself have been guilty at times. LOL)

But, I am no better than Elijah and if it had been me, I'd most likely have done the same or worse.

People so often look for "signs and wonders" (which God is capable of) but, God is always in control and always leading us. He is fully capable of doing his own work and we are simply to listen for that leading…serve him as best we can….keep a positive faith in him....and let God do the rest.

And, how often I fail in listening for that still small voice although it is not in my heart to do so…my flesh often gets in the way.

An old man I know said to me of the Holy Spirit…
"The Holy Spirit is not a screaming hawk…he is a gentle dove."

I've been guilty of that myself!



This is so true, the looking for the signs and wonders comment. The church I grew up in, after we left the Catholic church, was big on experiencing those kinds of things. Like I said earlier, it makes me angry now that the simple teaching of listening to the Holy Spirit in your intuition was never taught to me, but instead they were more concerned about whether I was raising my hands and speaking in tongues in the worship service, or dancing around like they do in the aisles. That never was me. I always wanted to just sit there quietly and not be forced to raise my hands if I didn't want to just because everyone else was doing it. Honestly, it all seemed a little exhibitionist to me then, but not because I thought I was higher spiritually than them, but because I'm just a quiet, reserved person by nature and it all seemed a little too wild for me.

And I think this same "signs and wonders" phenomena is prevalent today in the charismatic community. In fact, it's sort of what led me to GLP, because I was led here by speaking out against the Todd Bentley revival in Lakeland, Florida.

Anyway, good point.

Excellent verses!

WOW! What an interesting testimony. I had no idea of this part of your history. What a miracle to be led in this progressive way by the Holy Spirit to where you are now.

I had no idea you were led to speak out about Todd Bentley. Yes, that whole thing was a travesty. It saddened me to see it all unfolding. But, praise God it ended with the exposure of Bentley. God will not be mocked.

I now have a greater understanding of why this subject (OP) touches you in a special and profound way. What a good witness your experience is.

Thank you so much for sharing and taking the time to present this. Also, thank you for this thread which has served as a reminder to us. What a blessing.

It can be also that perhaps one is brainwahed to believe that the small voice is Jesus Christ aka God. These ideas lock up the human consciousness to advance in my opinion. There is so much more than this person Jesus Christ or whatever what his name was. Don't tell me that I am decieved by Satan as I think that the statement is over expired by now.

I haven't really paid good concentration to my intuition. So that is what it isa ay? But you shall not judge others on first sight; doesn't the Lord says "Thou shall not judge"?

When people bring up this "thou shalt not judge verse, it reminds me of Jesus being tempted in the desert by Satan, and Satan quoted him the scripture, "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." And Jesus replies back, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

So the way I'll reply to this "thou shalt not judge" verse that you say is to quote to you another scripture, which is, "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?"

This is not, of course, to imply that you're evil by replying back at you this way, but only to show that we have to look at the Bible as a whole, and -- more importantly -- be shown understanding of what it means by the Spirit of God, for the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:14, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." And this gets us back to the whole point of this thread, which is to show that to understand the higher things of God, we must have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the intuition of our conscience. Otherwise, we are following our own self, with its worthless limitations, or the voice of the enemy/enemies of God.

sounds pretty barbaric if you ask me.. my god would never ask anyone to sacrifice themselves for others

and what makes you right and them wrong? That they are listening to something other than the Creator of All?

He does, but this is often taken out of context. He said do not judge before you have examined the beam in your OWN eye, removed it, THEN you can clearly see the mote in your brother's eye. It doesn't mean that we must give up all spiritual discernment in order to be "loving Christians. We are supposed to judge. We must Judge something evil, or good; judge scripture quotation as true or not...we are told to discern whether a brother has produced good fruit (or not). How can we do any of that if we never judge? We have to be discerning, the key is, to only do so after careful examination of our own prejudices and after examining our own motives. Then proceed, carefully.

the verse to which you refer is Matthew 7:1-6

more about judging here:
[link to www.vor.org]

lordy be.....

i do not need religion, to 'mess' with my intuition/ME.

Forgot to mention that in the movie, Philip Seymour Hoffman's character (he plays a priest), looks at a stained glass window, and it's the all-seeing eye, or the eye or Horus. I thought that was interesting, since there always seems to be some kind of reference to the Illuminati in every major movie.

I don't really think you want the truth. I think you're just asking me that question to be antagonistic. Am I holding your head to the chopping block? No answer I give you will suffice. So, therefore, go on your way and follow your own god/gods if it makes you happy, and I'll continue to follow who I know is the Creator of all.

May you be liberated from your mental slavery in this incarnation.

Same to ya, but a lot more of it!




"There is a way that seemeth right unto man, but the ways thereof are the ways of destruction."