There is often among the intellectually leaning Christians, a certain fear of the gift of prophecy. And it is not, I believe, un-earned. This gift does indeed have a great potential for damage, and many of us have seen and been victims of its destructive powers.
But I don't think risk is ultimately an accurate determining factor of His will. The very calling to follow Christ itself is promised to be full of discipline, peril, and sacrifice. And this is not an ultimate factor for many areas in the rest of our lives. Take for example the destructive power of driving a car: you get into a two-ton death machine and drive at high speeds down a road, mere feet away from others in similar machines, some even going just as fast in the opposite direction. At any given point, you are one distracted moment or one slight movement of the arm away from the injury or death of many people. Yet is this a reason not to drive? No, it is simply a reason to make sure you do it right, learn correctly, and follow the rules of the road. The benefits far outweigh the risk most of the time, and therefore we drive every day.
In the same way, we cannot let the risk associated with this gift hinder us any more than the potential for sinning against each other prevents us from gathering as a Body. We have to assume, no matter what our background or experience is, that if God designs something a certain way, that the benefits are far greater to everyone and everything involved than if it functions any other way. Hence, we must trust that the 1 Cor 14 service is of much greater benefit to the entire body if we follow His design than if we don't.
In short, when God designs something a certain way, the risk associated with it should not prevent us from doing it, but should merely help define how we do it. When it comes to Prophecy, we have to learn correctly and obey the rules of the road.
But I don't think risk is ultimately an accurate determining factor of His will. The very calling to follow Christ itself is promised to be full of discipline, peril, and sacrifice. And this is not an ultimate factor for many areas in the rest of our lives. Take for example the destructive power of driving a car: you get into a two-ton death machine and drive at high speeds down a road, mere feet away from others in similar machines, some even going just as fast in the opposite direction. At any given point, you are one distracted moment or one slight movement of the arm away from the injury or death of many people. Yet is this a reason not to drive? No, it is simply a reason to make sure you do it right, learn correctly, and follow the rules of the road. The benefits far outweigh the risk most of the time, and therefore we drive every day.
In the same way, we cannot let the risk associated with this gift hinder us any more than the potential for sinning against each other prevents us from gathering as a Body. We have to assume, no matter what our background or experience is, that if God designs something a certain way, that the benefits are far greater to everyone and everything involved than if it functions any other way. Hence, we must trust that the 1 Cor 14 service is of much greater benefit to the entire body if we follow His design than if we don't.
In short, when God designs something a certain way, the risk associated with it should not prevent us from doing it, but should merely help define how we do it. When it comes to Prophecy, we have to learn correctly and obey the rules of the road.
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