Personal relationships with deities

[robvalue]

OK I'm not going to laugh at you. I don't question that people can firmly believe the things they say here about God.

I don't think everyone believes everything they say, but it's not for me to judge. So I give people the benefit of the doubt until they give me reason to think otherwise.

[drfuzzy]

OK cool You're the first theist not to immediately make an excuse about why they're not answering the question. I get tired of excuses, it's why I give up conversation with many theists.

If you get any communication at all you'd like to share with us, I'd be very interested.

yes i will share it with you so you can have a good laugh about it and someday when it happens to you and everyone is laughing at you maybe youll remember me and wont feel so alone

I too appreciate the candor, the willingness to admit that you have no proof and aren't here to convince folks.  But I doubt that an experience of actually hearing god's voice would be something that would make someone feel alone.  Every American city has churches on every corner with people that say they have heard god's voice.  All you have to do to find people with that same delusion is walk into a church.
      And that "when it happens to you" is a pretty questionable statement.  Most of us here are ex-christians.  Many were VERY devout indeed.  Many share my experience of praying intensely for decades, and having no such experience - ever.  I was put down and mocked when I admitted that I never heard a response to my prayers, by people who pridefully claimed that they heard it daily.  I tend to believe they were all lying, in "gods house", about hearing "god's voice", just to make themselves feel superior.
      We can already, through the use of machines, "watch" the human brain think, and respond to stimuli.  The day is coming soon when it will be easy to prove whether a "response from god" is emanating from an outside source or not.  And then I will have my evidence.  Until then, this is one of the few "beliefs" that I hold:  everybody who says they have heard the voice of gawd is either a liar or in need of psychiatric intervention.

[Crossless2.0]

OK cool You're the first theist not to immediately make an excuse about why they're not answering the question. I get tired of excuses, it's why I give up conversation with many theists.

If you get any communication at all you'd like to share with us, I'd be very interested.

yes i will share it with you so you can have a good laugh about it and someday when it happens to you and everyone is laughing at you maybe youll remember me and wont feel so alone

Well . . . ?

[Whateverist]

Who here has experienced true belief at first sight? Would you go all the way with a deity on the first worship?

[jenny1972]

yes i will share it with you so you can have a good laugh about it and someday when it happens to you and everyone is laughing at you maybe youll remember me and wont feel so alone

I too appreciate the candor, the willingness to admit that you have no proof and aren't here to convince folks.  But I doubt that an experience of actually hearing god's voice would be something that would make someone feel alone.  Every American city has churches on every corner with people that say they have heard god's voice.  All you have to do to find people with that same delusion is walk into a church.
      And that "when it happens to you" is a pretty questionable statement.  Most of us here are ex-christians.  Many were VERY devout indeed.  Many share my experience of praying intensely for decades, and having no such experience - ever.  I was put down and mocked when I admitted that I never heard a response to my prayers, by people who pridefully claimed that they heard it daily.  I tend to believe they were all lying, in "gods house", about hearing "god's voice", just to make themselves feel superior.
      We can already, through the use of machines, "watch" the human brain think, and respond to stimuli.  The day is coming soon when it will be easy to prove whether a "response from god" is emanating from an outside source or not.  And then I will have my evidence.  Until then, this is one of the few "beliefs" that I hold:  everybody who says they have heard the voice of gawd is either a liar or in need of psychiatric intervention.

in my experience christians do not really believe in a back and forth two way communication with God while they pray to God its more of a one way experience and events that happen they attribute to God as a "response" .  yes that would be amazing if machines and human tech advanced to be able to do that i just dont think anything but personal experience will convince anyone but i could be wrong people have a lot of respect for science so a scientific discovery could convince some people but i think they will rationalize that its something other than God .

[drfuzzy]

I too appreciate the candor, the willingness to admit that you have no proof and aren't here to convince folks.  But I doubt that an experience of actually hearing god's voice would be something that would make someone feel alone.  Every American city has churches on every corner with people that say they have heard god's voice.  All you have to do to find people with that same delusion is walk into a church.
      And that "when it happens to you" is a pretty questionable statement.  Most of us here are ex-christians.  Many were VERY devout indeed.  Many share my experience of praying intensely for decades, and having no such experience - ever.  I was put down and mocked when I admitted that I never heard a response to my prayers, by people who pridefully claimed that they heard it daily.  I tend to believe they were all lying, in "gods house", about hearing "god's voice", just to make themselves feel superior.
      We can already, through the use of machines, "watch" the human brain think, and respond to stimuli.  The day is coming soon when it will be easy to prove whether a "response from god" is emanating from an outside source or not.  And then I will have my evidence.  Until then, this is one of the few "beliefs" that I hold:  everybody who says they have heard the voice of gawd is either a liar or in need of psychiatric intervention.

in my experience christians do not really believe in a back and forth two way communication with God while they pray to God its more of a one way experience and events that happen they attribute to God as a "response" .  yes that would be amazing if machines and human tech advanced to be able to do that i just dont think anything but personal experience will convince anyone but i could be wrong people have a lot of respect for science so a scientific discovery could convince some people but i think they will rationalize that its something other than God .

I must confess that I mostly wrote that to gauge your response.  -- Not that I wrote anything I don't believe.  I just wanted to check out this person coming in who said she believed in god and prayer but not religion.   It is rare for such a person to receive a challenge to their position and reply in a calm manner, as you have done.  

I'm impressed.   And I agree with a lot of your description.  From my own experience, a lot of folks will pray, and then describe it the next day as:  "when I was driving to work, the clouds parted, and there was this beautiful, brilliant ray of sunlight.  At that point I KNEW that god had heard me!"  

I think that we could get along fine, but on the subject of prayer . . . I'm going to need a lot more concrete evidence than that.  ^  

Welcome to AF, Jenny.  There are other theists here that are well-loved and respected.  I hope you become one of them.

[Losty]

A relationship with gawd has the above three qualities?  
You have scientific, measurable proof that gawd is not imaginary?  (Not personal experience, not from a book, something measured by machine.)
You have measurable proof of communication from gawd, that was witnessed by impartial observers, who can replay both sides of the conversation?
If you do, share!  And if you do, show the world.  You'll be famous.  You'll be rich.  You'll become a household name.  You'll prove ONE belief system right and all the others wrong.

how can an experience be measured by a machine when no current machine is capable or recording it or detecting it . once upon a time we did not have a machine to detect DNA or microbes or sound waves but although we could not observe these things later as technology advanced it became possible .  im sure if someone did invent such a machine to measure thoughts and communication with God they would be famous and very rich . i dont know if i would be rich i would volunteer to do it for free . although really nothing would convince athiests that God exists i think not even a machine or a scientists stamp of approval they would just think its a hoax .

Oh man, I just read jenny and then saw the posts and thought you were JennyA and I was like phew I'm glad she hasn't gone cookoo. Not that I'm judging you for being cookoo, I mean, as long as you're not harming anyone go for it.

[Losty]

no its not reasonable for someone who has not themselves experienced communication with God to believe such a thing is possible a person just has to experience it themselves nothing else in my opinion could be convincing . i would not believe had it not happened to me and i dont expect anyone to believe just because i say it happened ,even if their was a way to measure such communication i would be surprised if it convinced anyone .

Is it reasonable for someone who has had those experiences to realize that it was just wishful thinking?

[Silver]

As I have stated often, there can be no personal relationship with a fictional deity for there is no reciprocation on behalf of stated deity.

Certainly, one can delude himself into believing that he is receiving love and support and guidance from this deity, but what proof is there other than the individual's mere insistence without the valid evidence to support that a relationship exists?

[robvalue]

I've heard voices before. Voices that almost certainly did not come from any human, or any device playing human voices. Nothing like that was close enough at the time for me to reasonably have heard them with such volume.

I've heard such voices on several occasional. They've even spoken my name. So I am not without bizarre experiences.