More on merely reading the manual but not driving the car.

"When you buy a car, when do you stop searching, studying and memorizing the owners manual and begin to drive the car?"

Expounding upon this analogy... Can anybody know what it feels like to drive a Lamborghini exclusively by reading the manual and by never actually driving the vehicle? Can anybody know what it feels like to drive 220 miles per hour through simply reading about it? To turn corners as if the vehicle is on rails? To stop on a dime? Can anyone know what it feels like to sit in the drivers seat by simply reading about this seat? What it smells like inside the vehicle? To steer this vehicle without actually doing it, but only reading about it? To rev the powerful motor and to shift the gears in this vehicle?

Allowing ourselves to live unto the Lord, as branches to the Vine, transformed by Him, new creations in Him, filled with and led by His Spirit, surrendered to Him in Love, resting in His Lordship, blown by His Spirit as if by the wind with His holy power flowing through us... is not something we experience merely by reading about it. People including John MacArthur and his followers who believe "God stopped talking to His children once the bible was written" and "the gifts are not for today", believe this way simply because they are exclusively reading the manual and they have yet to drive the Lamborghini which is a requirement if we are to truly experience it.

By not actually ever stepping into the Lamborghini, turning the key and driving it, they are deceived about what it is like to do so because all they have done is searched, studied and memorized the manual as well as having drawn many false conclusions about what the manual is actually saying. They will say such things to people who have actually driven the vehicle first hand and thus know better... as "oh that Lamborghini can not go 220 miles per hour", "it doesn't corner as well as you think", "it doesn't purr like a kitten", "it's not fun to drive, it's just designed to get us from A to B", etc.

For those who are not very good with analogies, if the Lamborghini and actually driving it in this case were symbolic of "God" and actually living in living relationship with Him - and the manual was symbolic of "the bible", then these individuals are in relationship with their manual (the bible) and treating it as an idol rather than being in relationship with the Lamborghini itself (the Living God) and worshiping Him. The manual (the bible) has become a substitute god for them and they have never actually met and experienced the Lamborghini (the Living God) personally. I hope this is clear and that folks will have eyes to see that this kind of idolatry is actually going on throughout a large segment of the church that is only reading the manual but not actually driving the Lamborghini.

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