When is a vision a fairy tale that can be dismissed and when isn't it so?

[MoreCoffee]

On the mount of transfiguration the Lord spoke with Moses and Elijah; Moses died near the end of the book of Deuteronomy and Elijah is said to have ascended in a chariot of some kind to heaven. Both were, I presume you'll agree, no longer Earthly people, yet they communed with Jesus in the presence of three of the apostles. What do you make of that, theologically speaking; does it have any implications about what a vision is, can visions be "real" or are they just sort of like dreams that need not be treated as having much to do with the issue of communion with the saints?

 

[Albion]

Visions can be real. Miracles do happen. We cannot maintain that none are real. So, to the Biblical events you mentioned, we all nod approvingly. But when people who are NOT Biblical figures claim to have had visions of Christ or the Virgin Mary, we naturally don't treat those claims the way we accept what is recorded in Holy Scripture.

So how do we know which are real and which are not? On the one hand, we might say that it doesn't matter. Any particular one might be genuine...or not...and let it go at that. But if something extraordinary is made out of such claims, such as a church organization asserting that certain devotions connected to those events will bring specific blessings or heavenly rewards, that's something else.

And when the event itself is known to have been embellished by the institutional church as well, we need to disavow whatever cultish practices have become attached to that "vision" or whatever.

 

[SetFree]

Why are you even here on a Christian forum if you even suggest... that event of the mount of transfiguration could be a FAIRY TALE DREAM?

Why would someone who claims... to be Christian even think up such a thing?

 

[Ammi]

There are fear mongers online that have succeeded in convincing many Christians that visions are from the devil. Why is it so hard to understand that when there is a move of the Spirit, the enemy will also be there trying to discredit what God is doing?
When a warm weather front collides with a cold front, things can get loud. When the kingdom of God collides with the kingdom of darkness, things can get loud. I've heard people say that God is a God of order. And so He is. But try telling that to a tornado-producing super-cell thunderstorm.
"My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me." - John 10:27
"And it will be in the last days, God says, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your elders will dream dreams." - Acts 2:17
Discernment needs to be used as some will invent "visions" to get attention and evil spirits will counterfeit what God is doing.
God-given visions are a form of prophecy and are given to strengthen the body.
"20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good." - 1 Thessalonians 5:20,21
Shalom.

 

[Messy]

On the mount of transfiguration the Lord spoke with Moses and Elijah; Moses died near the end of the book of Deuteronomy and Elijah is said to have ascended in a chariot of some kind to heaven. Both were, I presume you'll agree, no longer Earthly people, yet they communed with Jesus in the presence of three of the apostles. What do you make of that, theologically speaking; does it have any implications about what a vision is, can visions be "real" or are they just sort of like dreams that need not be treated as having much to do with the issue of communion with the saints?

I would not call that a vision, cause it just happened. The revelation from John is a vision. A dream is when you sleep.
When is it a fairy tale that can be dismissed? When a youtube woman didnt die but said Jesus took her to hell and she was told to not wear mascara or that dyeing your hair was a huge sin which sends you to hell or that woman with the purple hair, some weirdo preacher, who said she went to heaven and saw rollercoasters and other nonsense. If it goes against the Bible or is just outrageously stupid I dismiss it as a fairytale.

 

[SetFree]

On the mount of transfiguration the Lord spoke with Moses and Elijah; Moses died near the end of the book of Deuteronomy and Elijah is said to have ascended in a chariot of some kind to heaven. Both were, I presume you'll agree, no longer Earthly people, yet they communed with Jesus in the presence of three of the apostles. What do you make of that, theologically speaking; does it have any implications about what a vision is, can visions be "real" or are they just sort of like dreams that need not be treated as having much to do with the issue of communion with the saints?

That was a 'real' event.

The problem many brethren have with not understanding it is their lack of understanding Bible Scripture about the two different dimensions of existence which The Bible points to, this earthly one and the Heavenly one.

Look at Isaiah 6 with the vision he had. That wasn't a dream either...

Isa 6:1-5
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory."
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
KJV

Isaiah was shocked, because he thought he was dead, having seen The KING, The LORD of hosts. That was not a dream. It was real. God simply allowed Isaiah to see into the dimension of Spirit. God did the same thing with Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, when Paul said that one was caught up to the third heaven, and heard words not lawful to utter.

Therefore, I am so surprised at brethren that don't understand about that other dimension of Spirit, since God's written Word points to its existence so much, and even to angels from that other dimension that have appeared to God's servants here on earth, like Genesis 18 & 19.