What Do You Think Of People Claim Feeling God?

[AgnosticExChristianTB]

What I mean is people who claim God:

 

1. has talked to them

2. has revealed them a plan

3. has made a miracle in their lives

 

You know, any kind of direct contact with them.

[sdelsolray]

In a nutshell, they are assigning many of their internal thoughts and emotions to an imaginary outside entity.  As to their misinterpretation of observations (e.g., I saw an image of Jesus in the clouds), that's standard cognitive bias and dissonance fueled by the wishful thinking of their religious faith.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

During my christian years, especially during my days in youth group, I claimed to have personal experiences with god on a constant basis.  These experiences were as real to me at the time as any other experience.  There would have been no way anyone could have ever convinced me that my god was not personally involved in the very minutae of my life as he revealed himself to me nearly every day.  I could sense god's presence moving in my heart, leading me into certain directions, giving me certain knowledge or "revelation".  I felt the spirit of god strengthening me for upcoming problems, discourses with non-believers, and tests of faith.  Although I never experienced a miracle personally, I still believed that others had.  Insofar as god having a plan for my life, that had been a foregone conclusion as far back as I can remember.

 

I will not speak for anyone else, but I explain these things in my own life through psychology.  To begin with, I was conditioned to feel these things and to believe they were real.  I can understand people saying, "the force is strong in this one," because my conditioning toward accepting the completely absurd was so intense and thoroughly accomplished that I could not break away from the church until I was 30; I couldn't even begin to ask questions until my late 20s.  It was, for me, a classic case of complete brainwashing.

 

Defense mechanisms are also a well established psychological phenomenon.  I grew up under tremendous pressure to find god's plan for my life, to experience god's hand working in my life, and to feel god's presence moving upon me.  In my testimony, I've shown that when I was 4 years old I hated going to church; but this event occurred before the indoctrination and brainwashing had had time to take effect.  In the end, when people are compelled to conform, even to the most grotesque of notions, they will usually do so.  You become the thing you hate, so that the thing you hate will not consume you.

 

Another psychological vehicle I use for explaining what I experienced as god is what is known as "projecting".  We all have, in our minds, an image of our ideal selves.  We think of ourselves in terms of the characteristics that we enjoy best about ourselves, the personality traits that we find most useful, and the attributes we think of as our best (kindness, patience, good listener, etc.).  I often projected the best about myself onto what I thought of as god; I superimposed my self-image onto my deity.  For example, if someone was hurting or in a moment of deep despair, my ideal self would have wanted to lend salving balm upon the person in need (nevermind that I am actually terrible at comforting people); therefore, when I was the person distraught and enmeshed in desolation, I "felt" god comforting me as an extension of my ideal self.

 

For me, then, these things can be explained through psychology.  I no longer need a god, or spirit, to be real in order to understand my experiences.  I hope this helps.

[slave2six]

Provided that they are not also trying to tell me that god told them to tell me something, I couldn't care less. 

[midniterider]

What I mean is people who claim God:

 

1. has talked to them

2. has revealed them a plan

3. has made a miracle in their lives

 

You know, any kind of direct contact with them.

 

Their claim is exaggerated. When they say, "talked" they mean they got this really vague feeling of something in their head whose source was...their head. And they stamped the name God to it. And god's plan for the Christians I know is pretty much the same plan as everyone else. Get a job, get married, buy shit. :-) The word miracle is overused.

[Brother Jeff]

When I was a believer, I used to feel the presence of god very strongly. I was involved in the Charismatic movement (hand raising, speaking in tongues, etc.) and during worship services I frequently felt so much JOY and LOVE coming from god that I thought surely I was about to be raptured! Glory! I also strongly felt the presence of god when I prayed, and I used to pray for hours every day. Every spare minute I had was spent praising and worshiping god or in prayer or bible study.

 

Now I realize that all of those feelings, glorious as they were at the time, can easily be explained through psychology and the incredible power of belief. There is no god but at the time I strongly believed that there was and that I knew him, and the feelings followed with the belief.

[RipVanWinkle]

I never felt the "presence of god" except for brief periods after I had heard an inspiring sermon, read an inspiring book or heard something similar. And it didn't last but a matter of minutes. If it was a sermon that inspired me, upon leaving the sanctuary I was expecting others to be overtly excited like I was and anxious to do something about it. (What, I had no idea.) But everything appeared just the same as always: People standing around talking about everyday things. I was always an introverted person who needed someone else to get things started. I could never have gone around trying to "save" friends or acquaintances. The most sharing of the faith I ever did was with a prayer group of fellow Methodists who, although real Xtians, are and were much more subdued than Baptists, for example. So I never had the feeling that god was actually speaking to me.

 

Although it took me a really long time to deconvert (many years), I didn't have the emotional shackles the likes of which I hear described on this site. How did you folks who were so emotionally tied to the faith manage to break through the defensive reasoning that we hear from Xtians all the time? I mean, they always have a pat answer to the sensible, reasoned approached of atheists and agnostics when challenged. How did you finally cut through those metaphorical chains which you couldn't break through before?   bill

[TheRedneckProfessor]

 

Although it took me a really long time to deconvert (many years), I didn't have the emotional shackles the likes of which I hear described on this site. How did you folks who were so emotionally tied to the faith manage to break through the defensive reasoning that we hear from Xtians all the time? I mean, they always have a pat answer to the sensible, reasoned approached of atheists and agnostics when challenged. How did you finally cut through those metaphorical chains which you couldn't break through before?   bill

 

This is also a very good question and one that I have asked myself many times.  What did I have that allowed me to get out?  How could I see things so clearly that others were still blind to?  If I'm being honest, I have to say: I don't know.  I could say that my experiences taught me valuable lessons and that would be true; but I have also seen christians go through similar experiences that only drove them deeper into their religion.  I could say that the constant barrage of trials and tribulations usually described as "tests of faith", got the better of me and finally allowed me to ask one of the very first questions I asked: How many times does an omniscient god need to test my faith to be convinced it's real?  But I saw others go through tribulations that were just as horrific as mine; and they stayed with the church.  I know that I was fortunate to fall under the mentorship of a very wise non-christian during the last days of my trevail, and that may have been the only thing that saved me.

[mydisplayname]

God never spoke to me in words or dreams, but I felt his presence at times. As always TheRedneckProfessor explained it much better than I would ever be able to.

 

 

 

As for how I broke from the metaphorical chains:

In my case two separate very bad things happened at a time when I was already doubting the truth of what I was taught and that caused me to google: there is no god.

 

I've come so far in the past year that I don't even know who I was then anymore. The then me and the now me would never be friends. 

[TheRedneckProfessor]

 

 

I've come so far in the past year that I don't even know who I was then anymore. The then me and the now me would never be friends. 

 

If I ever met myself in a bar, I'd think I was an asshole.

[◊ crazyguy123 ◊]

 

 

 

I've come so far in the past year that I don't even know who I was then anymore. The then me and the now me would never be friends. 

 

If I ever met myself in a bar, I'd think I was an asshole.

 

 

If I ever met myself in a bar, the old me would have said, "You're going to Hell, New Me!"

 

Then the me that I am now would say to the old me, "You're an asshole, dude."

 

Then, the old me would probably go join the most fundy church there was, to prevent the new me from ever appearing.

[RipVanWinkle]

Now that I have seen through the myth of Xtiaity I have to  be very careful not to feel so superior to Xtians who are still caught up in the myth.

I find myself thinking that way sometimes (too often) at which times I have forgotten how many years it took me to escape. So I try to be more humble about it. But honestly, it is frustrating to talk to closed minded Xtians  and thereby be reminded how narrow minded I was. I think a lot of us here for get that from time to time. Perhaps we all transfer anger at ourselves to Xtians, It's easier to tske that way.  bill

[WaitingInfinity]

1) Like "talk" as in audibly speak? or "talk" as in "my mind is saying something and I don't feel conscious that I am the one thinking?" Its not falsifiable so it cannot be tested or shown to be merely a subconscious desire or something else like that. I never heard God speak to me. I guess I wasn't as special as others. Though I did believe I felt God's presence while a Christian. Then I learned about dopamine and the warm fuzzies it causes. So now I don't trust the warm fuzzies like I used to.

 

2) I once thought I was being called by God to be a teacher in China. I didn't do anything about it and nothing happened to me, despite me "not following God's plan". I realize now that I was probably feeling guilty about or really sorry for the super cute Chinese kids in the missionary's photos. And I feel angry because I was very distressed at the time about not following God's plan for me and I worried that he would punish me. What a great, loving God!

 

3) A miracle, eh? I never experienced one by God, but many due to science. One of my uber-Christian friends was claiming that she and her family were healing people by just laying their hands on them and praying for them. My sister was sick at the time with the flu and she asked my sister if she wanted to be prayed over too. When my sister said no out of embarrassment, the uber-Christian just said she would say a quick prayer anyways and my sister got better due to medicine a few days later. 

[Lilith666]

Psshh. See, what happens is people read the Bible and hear sermons and read books by people like Rick Warren.  Then they suddenly have thoughts while reading/doing these things, and they think it's from biblegod, but it's actually just left over from what they have been told.

[Ravenstar]

I used to be (after christianity..) a bonafide psychic, yup, and a healer (hands on sort of energy thing) Was TOTALLY convinced, for a long time.

 

Was pretty involved in the new age community... it feels almost exactly like the christian stuff, you just call it by different names. 

[Lilith666]

Oops.  Double post.

[raoul]

Neurons in their brain talking to them.

[themonkeyman]

When I was a younger Christian I felt that God spoke to me.  I internally heard him inside my head and that if I needed advice or wisdom generally the voice in my head gave me it.

 

Now it was not a voice that I was psychotic but just the normal voice inside everyone’s head.

 

I felt God spoke to me and told me things but in the end it turned out to be completely crap.

 

I always felt God in my life but I think that’s because I was always rather socially recluse so God was my improvision for an imaginary friend except I never grew out of it.

 

I understand that Psychology has a big part to play in everyone’s experience with God which is why there are very few Psychologists who believe in a ‘Religious God’.  I went to a Psychiatrist about the Unforgivable sin and they ultimately told me that there is people who are afraid to even move because of the fear of hell.

 

He told me they can cure people of these Irrational Fears as most people just jump of the deep end.

 

When I stopped believing in fairies at the bottom of the garden I started realising that it’s all bull shit.

 

I still have my fears and doubts as you can see on other posts but that comes with me being rather clever and not wanting a fucked up version of Pascal’s wager to fall on me.

 

The thing I found though is that the more people who believe in something the easier it is to follow the crowd which is why religion is harder to leave than to Join.

[par4dcourse]

 

This is also a very good question and one that I have asked myself many times.  What did I have that allowed me to get out?  How could I see things so clearly that others were still blind to?  If I'm being honest, I have to say: I don't know.  I could say that my experiences taught me valuable lessons and that would be true; but I have also seen christians go through similar experiences that only drove them deeper into their religion.  I could say that the constant barrage of trials and tribulations usually described as "tests of faith", got the better of me and finally allowed me to ask one of the very first questions I asked: How many times does an omniscient god need to test my faith to be convinced it's real?  But I saw others go through tribulations that were just as horrific as mine; and they stayed with the church.  I know that I was fortunate to fall under the mentorship of a very wise non-christian during the last days of my trevail, and that may have been the only thing that saved me.

I think a person's general nature has a lot to do with it. I was a "why?" Kid and took apart new toys to see how they worked. I was a troubleshooter all my working life. I started asking lots of questions as soon as the parental approval stage passed, and never looked back.

Someone with more follow than lead doesn't want to know any more than what's told to them. The pastor is usually a master of people control. And having something to feel superior about doesn't hurt.

[TheRedneckProfessor]

 

 

This is also a very good question and one that I have asked myself many times.  What did I have that allowed me to get out?  How could I see things so clearly that others were still blind to?  If I'm being honest, I have to say: I don't know.  I could say that my experiences taught me valuable lessons and that would be true; but I have also seen christians go through similar experiences that only drove them deeper into their religion.  I could say that the constant barrage of trials and tribulations usually described as "tests of faith", got the better of me and finally allowed me to ask one of the very first questions I asked: How many times does an omniscient god need to test my faith to be convinced it's real?  But I saw others go through tribulations that were just as horrific as mine; and they stayed with the church.  I know that I was fortunate to fall under the mentorship of a very wise non-christian during the last days of my trevail, and that may have been the only thing that saved me.

I think a person's general nature has a lot to do with it. I was a "why?" Kid and took apart new toys to see how they worked. I was a troubleshooter all my working life. I started asking lots of questions as soon as the parental approval stage passed, and never looked back.

Someone with more follow than lead doesn't want to know any more than what's told to them. The pastor is usually a master of people control. And having something to feel superior about doesn't hurt.

 

 

You were a much better man than I, Par, and I admire you for it.

[francesco]

For people who said god spoke to me about bla bla or gold told me that bla bla

I asked them what is god's voice? Is it bass, alto, soprano?

They were never able to answer it

[GypsyMoon]

I can't say for a fact that I ever really "felt god" or "heard him speak to me"... I tried to find him. I searched and searched and searched. I converted about 6 times, baptised twice. trying to "find god"

 

Well guess what, I never found him. I copied my sisters toungues (which are still the same to this day, I went to church the other week to see if anything had changed)

 

I used to always try and "shrink" when we had "prophets" at church. one once told me that one day I would be a mother... well that came true, but I bet ya it wasn't the way he thought it would... (pre marital sex) and he never prophesied that I would lose my oldest.

 

My sisters and parents always claimed that god spoke to them. often I think its the voices in their heads that make stuff up. Or they read the bible and something jumps out at them like things do to me when I'm reading books.

 

in any case. it is psychological I think and if you believe something strongly enough your brain will make up anything to make it real.

[GypsyMoon]

Now I'm a hippy... not a hard out one. I just believe the  universe controls things and therefore we should look after it and that karma is a bitch and does bite you in the ass.. it also repays the good you do. that isn't god speaking to me, that is just how the world works.