Theists who speak with God

[Simon Moon]

How would I go about enabling this part of me (I suppose all humans are born with it, right?) to experience this communication with this god? Is it at all possible that some do not have it?

Come to accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord. Afterwards you devote yourself to knowing Him. Everyone is born with a spirit, however the spirit is intended for knowing God so in many it goes unused

For me to do the above, as you suggest, I would first have to be convinced of the proposition that a god exists, and it is your specific god. I can not be convinced of a proposition until I am presented with a reason to do so, ie: demonstrable evidence, reasoned argument, and valid and sound logic to support said proposition, So far, nothing I have ever been presented with for the existence of a god meets my criteria to accept it.

So, how am I supposed to 'accept Jesus as my Savior and Lord' before being convinced of his existence? My mind does not work that way. Why would a god create me with a brain, that is incapable of believing he exists, without first providing me with what he would already know, I require to believe?

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My wife and I care for a beautiful young lady, you could say we've adopted her and that means the problems she has also. When she was born, very premature, she weighed 3lbs. and very mentally challenged, at the age of 30 she she developed schizophrenia, can you even imagine what her 5 year old mind was going through. Then she was institutionalized 400 miles away from home and anyone she knew, now what do you think her mind was going through. Well I can tell you it was about as awful as things could get, we've been dealing with this for three years now and she is doing so much better. People who knew her before she came to us say, they can't believe she's the same girl they knew. So yes I know all about schizophrenia and the effect it has on people. Now you can take your diagnosis and stuff it where the sun doesn't shine.

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A wonderful act.

Made possible by God, His work covered many years to make this possible. I thank Him daily for her.

So, no atheist ever has done anything similar? Seriously...

I'm completely sane and a fairly smart person and know and understand my experiences. In actuality I feel sorry for you because you've never experienced anything from the Creator of the universe.[/hide]

Does everyone that claims to have experienced something from the creator, actually have experienced something from the creator? Or are there some percentage of those who claim they have experienced something from the creator, who have not? Like they may misinterpret some other natural brain state, have a transient hallucinatory state not related to a diagnosable mental illness, or actually have a mental illness that causes them to believe they experienced something from the creator, for example.

Question 1 No
Question 2 Yes there are those who would and do deceive for various reasons, listen to the "money preachers" on TV, they put in just enough about salvation to get peoples attention, they then go on with their sales pitch that starts out, I've had a word from the Lord.

Is that the only way possible, in your mind, for someone to claim to have experienced something from the creator? To be  purposefully dishonest in order to profit?

Do you think that there is anyone that sincerely believes they have had an experience with the creator, who is not out to profit, who has been as charitable as you have been with the young lady you mention in your story, that actually did not have an experience with the creator?

Question 3 Yes I'm sure of this also, people who claim God told them to kill someone or burn down a building and ect.
When people say they have heard from the Lord and it doesn't line up with the scriptures then they are delusional, mistaken or ect. God speaks to people to further his work through them and possibly to let them know He is listening to them.

So, are you saying that every person who claims to have 'heard from the Lord', but the message has been one that 'lines up with scripture', every one of them has 'heard from the lord'?

Do you believe that it is possible for someone to be delusional when they claim to have 'heard from the Lord', do good deeds that align with scriptures, but have not truly 'heard from the Lord'?