Interpretation by Experience?

One of the major problems with teachers who emphasize hearing from God is that they place a great deal of emphasis on personal experience.

Here are some statements / claims from Wayne Grudem (who supports the idea that believers should hear from God);

• Admits prophesy “can frequently contain error”
• Did the revelation “seems like” something from the Holy Spirit.
• Did it seem similar to other experiences of the Holy Spirit that the person had previously known in worship.

Beyond the 3 points above it is difficult to evaluate, but a mature congregation would probably become apt at evaluating experiences.

But this is very dangerous of course because without any objective criteria, it is difficult to distinguish between prophetic and imaginary words.

We cannot interpret the Bible by what we experience; we must evaluate our feelings / experience in light of the truth of the Word of God.

You also cannot exegete an experience and you most certainly cannot take an experience and build a doctrine around that. Experience is not the pillar and foundation of the Church ~ scripture is.

2 Peter 1:16-19 (NKJV)

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 

For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 

And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;

In the verse above, Peter speaks about witnessing the transfiguration and hearing God’s voice, but even he said that we have a more certain word of prophecy (a reference to scripture) (2 Peter 1:19).

Although the Transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17:1-9) was a wonderful experience, the scriptures that we hold in our hands are a more solid foundation for God’s word and it is something we can all rely on .

Typically, when the Word of God is not used as the basis of validity, there can be no way to judge claims and testimonies that are made by people, and this has been the case with charismatics. They use their experiential system as a way to validate themselves, rather than checking their experiences against Scripture.