dB-Paradox Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 A while back, I was given a challenge by my pastor. He asked if I could explain a dream he had. It was of a church member in hospital...a handicapped girl. He dreamed that Jesus was standing next to her, stroking her forehead. Prior to falling asleep and having the dream, the pastor had prayed and asked that God would take care of the girl. Obviously, he saw this as an answer to prayer. To even further his "proof", he went on to say that he later found out that the girl was in pain all over her body...except for on her forehead. I asked members of this site to take on the challenge my pastor gave me, and Antlerman answered with the following: "Just as a thought, logically speaking, how is it that evidences for God always take anecdotal form, such as someone's "vision", interpretation, sense, etc? The ultimate power of the universe though whom all physical reality came forth, should reveal himself in such obscure ways? These visions of deities in action are common-place throughout history and cultures, taking the various forms of their various gods." (the entire post can be read here.) And in a recent topic I started, I asked whether anyone has had the itch to return to Christianity. (Here.) Autonomous made a reply that gave me every reason to try to make contact with Jesus at least one more time. So I did. And I actually got an answer this time!!! The pastor would be proud! I asked God to reveal himself to me...again! I asked nicely, and as sincerely as I could. I asked for good reason to believe in Jesus. As usual, I got nothing until I went outside (I was at work). As I opened the back door, the light above the door was burned out. It was completely black. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Then I remembered that Jesus is the "light of the world" (John 8:12). But the light was burned out! It was not there!!! If Jesus reveals himself to people through dreams, visions, signs, ect...then I got my sign tonight! Of course I don't actually see the burned out light as a sign of anything and I'm done waiting for Jesus to reveal himself to me. However, it was an interesting occurrence. Kinda reminds me of Bruce Almighty with Jim Carrey. "Lord, just give me a sign" as a truck pulls in front of him with a bunch of road signs sticking out of the back. LOL!!! I don't really remember where I was going with this post...Oh, just that if I ever received a sign from God, the burned out bulb would have been it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Davka Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I got a sign from "god" when I asked if I should go back to Christianity, too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dB-Paradox Posted September 22, 2009 Author Share Posted September 22, 2009 That's what I'm talking about! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike D Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 Signs.... for fucks sake. For an all powerful deity you would think "signs" wouldn't even be necessary. Why not just fucking appear? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loren Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 A while back, I was given a challenge by my pastor. He asked if I could explain a dream he had. It was of a church member in hospital...a handicapped girl. He dreamed that Jesus was standing next to her, stroking her forehead. Prior to falling asleep and having the dream, the pastor had prayed and asked that God would take care of the girl. Obviously, he saw this as an answer to prayer. To even further his "proof", he went on to say that he later found out that the girl was in pain all over her body...except for on her forehead. The first thing I think of is that this is a proof of Jesus' lack of compassion. The girl's whole body is in pain and the only part Jesus "treats" is her forehead? And why just a palliative touch? Why not heal her? It reminded me immediately of one of the big problems I had with all the stories in the NT about Jesus healing people: With all the hundreds of thousands of people suffering in the world, and the infinite power Jesus supposedly had as God himself, he only heals a handful of people? Even if he healed hundreds, it's still a relative handful. And this is in the face of passages such as the story of the time the Centurion went to Jesus to heal a family member. Jesus says, "Okay. Let's go see the family member," and the Centurion says, "I'm a leader of many men. When I give an order to my second in command, he gives it to his second and so on and it happens. Just speak, and my family member will be healed." Jesus, of course, was very pleased with the Centurion's grasp of the situation and gave him a cookie. It always bothered me as a Christian that, while all the Christians around me were plainly seeing these stories as amazing proof of God's power and compassion, I saw them as proof of the opposite, as well as clear proof of the lack of compassion among the "Body of Christ" for not even managing to notice such things, let alone think about the ramifications of them. Increasingly, I saw it as plain and simple sycophancy. Let's all suck God's cock so he doesn't blow our heads off with His Holy, Sanctified and Anointed Sawed-Off Shotgun. Fucking Glory! Disgusting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autonomous Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 A while back, I was given a challenge by my pastor. He asked if I could explain a dream he had. It was of a church member in hospital...a handicapped girl. He dreamed that Jesus was standing next to her, stroking her forehead. Prior to falling asleep and having the dream, the pastor had prayed and asked that God would take care of the girl. Obviously, he saw this as an answer to prayer. To even further his "proof", he went on to say that he later found out that the girl was in pain all over her body...except for on her forehead. I asked members of this site to take on the challenge my pastor gave me, and Antlerman answered with the following: "Just as a thought, logically speaking, how is it that evidences for God always take anecdotal form, such as someone's "vision", interpretation, sense, etc? The ultimate power of the universe though whom all physical reality came forth, should reveal himself in such obscure ways? These visions of deities in action are common-place throughout history and cultures, taking the various forms of their various gods." (the entire post can be read here.) And in a recent topic I started, I asked whether anyone has had the itch to return to Christianity. (Here.) Autonomous made a reply that gave me every reason to try to make contact with Jesus at least one more time. So I did. And I actually got an answer this time!!! The pastor would be proud! I asked God to reveal himself to me...again! I asked nicely, and as sincerely as I could. I asked for good reason to believe in Jesus. As usual, I got nothing until I went outside (I was at work). As I opened the back door, the light above the door was burned out. It was completely black. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Then I remembered that Jesus is the "light of the world" (John 8:12). But the light was burned out! It was not there!!! If Jesus reveals himself to people through dreams, visions, signs, ect...then I got my sign tonight! Of course I don't actually see the burned out light as a sign of anything and I'm done waiting for Jesus to reveal himself to me. However, it was an interesting occurrence. Kinda reminds me of Bruce Almighty with Jim Carrey. "Lord, just give me a sign" as a truck pulls in front of him with a bunch of road signs sticking out of the back. LOL!!! I don't really remember where I was going with this post...Oh, just that if I ever received a sign from God, the burned out bulb would have been it! The thing about the girl is sick, IMO. Glad to have helped LOL, sometimes I think you just need to give it another chance in order to find again that it's not going to work. That's my theory anyway. My experiment is working out as expected too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShallowByThyGame Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 If God wanted me to go to church then sleeping in on Sunday wouldn't be so damn enjoyable. Looking for signs of God is like looking for signs of UFOs. If you want them to be there, they tend to be there. Perhaps this shows that you are ready to 'get over God' as you fixed on the negative sign instead of looking for a positive one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Posted September 22, 2009 Share Posted September 22, 2009 I once worked for a very religious man. I was going through one of my overzealous phases at the time. My wife and I were struggling financially. He told me that every time he had ever struggled that God would provide. A few days later I got a $700 check from my insurance company from where I had overpaid my escrow. Wow, I went off the deep end with that "sign". Now I realize that it was a sign that I paid too much for my insurance and I might not have even been struggling had I had that money in the first place. I love living a life free of superstition. I can enjoy a good coincidence or good luck without having to explain it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dB-Paradox Posted September 22, 2009 Author Share Posted September 22, 2009 I love living a life free of superstition. I can enjoy a good coincidence or good luck without having to explain it. BINGO! Well said, and I couldn't agree more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts