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Do prophecies have to make you feel good to edify you?

Acts-perienced Poster Posts: 11849 **4/29/20 4:39 pm**

Do prophecies have to be pleasant and make you feel good?

Some people interpret I Corinthians 14:3, that says that he who prophesies speaks to men to edification, exhortation, and comfort to mean that prophecies have to make you feel good. The verse doesn't define prophesying. It describes its effects, as opposed to speaking in tongues in verse 2 which only edifies the speaker.

I disagree that edify means 'to make you feel good.' The word in Greek has to do with building, and I take it to refer to building the church up to what it is meant to be. Notice 'edifying' in verse 12, a grammatically inflected form of the same word in I Corinthians 14:3.

Ephesians 4
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

In church, all things must be done unto edifying. That includes teaching and sharing of revelations (I Corinthians 14:26.)
If rebuke, exhortation to follow Christian doctrine, and description of calamities God has decreed, or anything that might make someone in the audience feel bad is 'unedifying', then it is forbidden in the church meeting.
If 'edification' means 'make people feel good', and prophecies are forbidden if they don't make people feel good, then teachings that do not make people feel good should be forbidden also.

Understanding 'edification' as meaning 'makes you feel good' would mean we could not study or teach much of scripture in church.

It would also be a justification for some of the seeker sensitive teacher whose teaching consistently lacks depth and substance and stays away from controversy, so if you know any preachers in that movement, please do not share with them the second paragraph of this post out of context, lest they use it to justify the lack of substance in their teaching with it.

Preaching about repentance and talking up the cross may make some people feel uncomfortable.
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Who says this?

Acts-perienced Poster Posts: 11798 **4/29/20 5:10 pm**

Edification means builds up.

To edify

Hey, DOC Posts: 87 **4/29/20 6:54 pm**

Can also mean "enlighten". Enlightenment can be by means of a rebuke, a warning, an revelation or other similar types. So it doesnt mean you are going to an Osteen service. Happy talk and making you feel good can certainly be part of edify but certainly not in every situation.