(February 26, 2016 at 10:18 am)Old Baby Wrote: My experience in 30+ years of Christianity is that people's "God spoke to me" experiences are scrutinized just as much WITHIN the body of believers. Almost everyone thinks God is talking to them and telling them a specific thing. The trouble comes when Roger is listening to Nancy share her testimony of what God told her, realizing it conflicts with what God told him. Long before I stopped being a believer in Jesus, I stopped believing in people's personal "Gold told me this and I know that I know that I know" testimonies when it became clear to me how self-deceptive people are in just telling themselves what they want to hear and giving God the credit. Now, when I see someone sharing "the Truth" with an unbeliever, the first thing that comes to my mind is the fact that their "Truth" is not even supported by a consensus among other believers.
Exactly Old Baby! Not only that, but I clearly remember a church (pentecostal) where people were strongly encouraged to stand up during services and share personal experiences. Shy people were given a pass, but still expected to say something . . . once-a-month-ish. People were praised afterwards, (the obligatory after service gathering with juice and coffee and tea and cookies) for particularly eloquent descriptions of how god worked in their lives and answer their prayers. So teens would gather beforehand, and come up with stories. People came to service prepared with stories. I actually think that a lot of those folks BELIEVED their own lies, once they had been spoken. It was really quite amazing.
"The family that prays together...is brainwashing their children."- Albert Einstein
