mymistake Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 There's also nothing that eliminates the possibility that the god of the bible is real meaning I'm still in potential danger Actually it is impossible for an all-knowing, all-good and all-powerful creator to exist. That is the Christian concept of God and it cannot exist. In logic this is known as the Problem of Evil and there is no way to make the Christian God work. Christian theology is nonsense. Have you read up the debates in the Lion's Den? The God of the Bible comes from the Bible and that is full of contradictions. Each contradiction is something that eliminates the possibility for that God. Look, it is nothing to me if you choose to reject rational thinking. But it seems to me that irrational thinking leaves you suffering. My life improved dramatically when I stopped being controlled by my fear of demons. To a lesser extend my belief in Jesus left me suffering as well. There is a better way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midniterider Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 There's also nothing that eliminates the possibility that the god of the bible is real meaning I'm still in potential danger Actually it is impossible for an all-knowing, all-good and all-powerful creator to exist. That is the Christian concept of God and it cannot exist. In logic this is known as the Problem of Evil and there is no way to make the Christian God work. Christian theology is nonsense. Have you read up the debates in the Lion's Den? The God of the Bible comes from the Bible and that is full of contradictions. Each contradiction is something that eliminates the possibility for that God. Look, it is nothing to me if you choose to reject rational thinking. But it seems to me that irrational thinking leaves you suffering. My life improved dramatically when I stopped being controlled by my fear of demons. To a lesser extend my belief in Jesus left me suffering as well. There is a better way. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when God won't show up in a debate to let it be known he exists and to keep you on the straight and narrow. Like right now. Jesus? Any comments? Would you care to share something? Ask21771 has some questions and fears. Jesus never gets involved. Never appears. Never speaks. What does that say about the "almighty" one that "loves" us? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted September 1, 2015 Super Moderator Share Posted September 1, 2015 But to receive such elation and uplifting amazingness just because? I considered it a blessing from God. Still do. Possibly that prayer "loop" is something my mind makes up, and possibly the powerful communion service had a group buzz that I felt, but the random joyful soaring? Just coming from wherever? That wasn't me. It was poured into me from Somewhere Else. There are several causes for such an hallucination, but "Somewhere Else" isn't one of them. You don't have enough information to determine the cause so you're jumping to a supernatural explanation. You could probably benefit from a thorough medical/psychological workup just to be safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 There's also nothing that eliminates the possibility that the god of the bible is real meaning I'm still in potential danger Look, when I was into christianity, I could pray and "turn it over" to god or jesus-god. Then I would FEEL like it was taken care of. How nice. But now, I fucking don't believe that there is a god or jesus-god. PERIOD. So what do I do now for assurance that it's going to be ok? How do I get that FEELING now? I thought long and hard about this and I came to the conclusion that it was going to take COURAGE to accept that whatever happens, HAPPENS. I don't understand the mind and frankly, I don't care what caused those feelings. That was then and those feelings absolutely do not override all of the studying that I have done to get to where I am now. So, if you are thinking that those feelings might be proof of god,..... go study some more. Read more. I wish you well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amateur Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 I used to "know" that God was real because my prayer often involved 2-way communication. Not auditory hallucinations, just inside my head. But it didn't feel like me, it felt like something from outside of me. And it helped me out, that Voice, that Feeling... pulled me back from suicide once. I felt like I "knew His voice", because it was a particular feeling, different from all the other thoughts in my head. And then one day, while I taking my questioning seriously, I decided I wanted to feel "God's presence" and I did. And then I made it go away again. If I could control it like that, choose when "God showed up", then it wasn't really ever God. It was pretty heartbreaking to realize that this friend who'd been there for me and known my deepest secrets was just... some aspect of my subconscious. Or maybe my "higher self". But not God. Not someone not-me who loves me. I was alone, and I had always been alone and always would be. Alone inside my head, never with some telepathic, powerful Other who would know what I meant even when I didn't have words for it, who would know what I needed even when I didn't. There's some comfort that if that Voice was always inside of me, then the benefits I got from it are things I can get from myself. And the unanswered prayer was never God not being there for me and wanting me to suffer. I learned that I can take action to get the changes that I need in my life instead of just begging a voice in my head for things to change. And after a few years, when the pain of the loss had diminished, I was able to start playing with altered states of consciousness again to try and get some of the good feelings back, knowing that all I was doing was manipulating brain chemistry. In case you're curious, I don't use any external chemical help; I can reach those states easily enough with mediation and music and wanting it hard enough. Sometimes they end sooner than I'd like or aren't as strong as I'd like, but that's better than drugs keeping me in an altered state when I'd like to come back to myself, or having long-term side effects. I think... sometimes we underestimate our bodies. People say that it's "just" brain chemistry, as if that makes it less real. But if materialism is true, and we are made out of brain chemistry without souls, then things in our brain chemistry are as real as it's going to get. If you think a god ever did something for you, changed the course of your life, fixed a problem that you'd been struggling with, but instead it was "just in your head"... then that means that you're not helpless. That there are way to work with your own brain/mind to manifest the changes that you want in yourself (and it does take work, and requires developing some skills - many of which a shrink can help you learn; a psychologist isn't there to fix the problems in your life, they're there to teach you how to do it yourself). That power belongs to us, not to a god. One other note about emotions and strong feelings - they are real, and they mean something, but they don't always mean what you expect them to. Sometimes my negative emotions, feeling worthless and afraid and unloved, just mean that my blood sugar is dropping and I need food. Doesn't mean that I am actually worthless or unloved. That's where a lot of anxiety issues come from - when you are legitimately afraid of something, your brain triggers changes in your body to prep you to deal with the situation. But sometimes your body gets messed up and starts doing those things on its own... then your brain goes nuts trying to figure out what's going on, and since that's the same thing that it causes when it is afraid, it decides you must be feeling afraid. Then it tries to find something to be afraid of! I can usually tell when the anxiety isn't "real" because I can feel it fishing for something to be afraid of, and it will often latch on to really weird things. Brains like to explain everything and put a storyline to sensations, and if you don't know the true story your brain will make something up for you. Beautiful and deep. Thank you, VF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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