[quote='Borunel' pid='359220' dateline='1352196833']
[quote]I too have disturbing nightmares - often I get them when I'm really stressed or ill. I've dreamed some fairly weird things over time and have even kept a dream diary and my conclusion after studying it is that nothing -but nothing- that happens in my dreams is new information.[/quote]
Well, this is where we differ. Everything in the Hell revelation was 'new.' I had a very traditional view of Hell a literal lake of fire a horned devil with a pitch fork pushing everyone in. Hell went from a literal place where the Devil reigned to a nothingness where the devil like everyone elses suffers the same fate. Afterwhich I studied the biblical depictions of Hell (All of them and at some length, not just the illertations of a firey lake) and found my dream to have been more accurate than my sunday school understanding was.
[quote]Everything I dream can be described as a recursion of events, experiences and thoughts that I have had (usually) recently.[/quote]I have NEVER experienced anything like this prior or since.
[quote]I suspect that unresolved psychological issues may underlie. Was the message that you feel you experienced in your nightmare unexpected?[/quote]Yes, get my life together or be cast into Hell after this life is over.
[quote] Perhaps you felt on some level as a Christian that you did deserve to go to hell thereby explaining the dream - who knows? maybe not even yourself.[/quote]At the time I was an Atheist.
[quote]My main concern with the OPs line of reasoning in justifying the dream is this:
I speculate based on this that you stressed yourself out to such an extent over such a long period of time that you triggered your nightmare yourself - your subconscious gave you exactly what you were expecting. [/quote]Again as an atheist douche bag I wasn't expecting to see anything unless I was wrong and God existed, then I felt that He would be obligated to show me the 'proof' I needed because He made a promise to do so.. I was looking for an excuse to live a 'moral' life, and to wash my hands of what little exposure I had with christianity.
[quote]1) Why is it that you think God has shown himself to you when if you think about it he has shown you nothing tangible at all - why not show you a real life burning bush for instance or burn his name in the bonnet of your car with lightning? Basically something that can't be mistaken for, or explained as something else?[/quote]I guess you have not read my "Messenger/message thread.
http://atheistforums.org/thread-13378.html
[quote]2) If you at some point accept this may have just been a dream why is it that some part of you believes that you deserve to burn in Hell? [/quote]At the time I didn't, I a was a big bag of douche much like many of you. I was basically a 'good person,' who had never hurt anyone, and had done more harm than good. I just did not want to live my life under christian rule, and some old man told me about asking God for the 'proof' I needed. That if I just earnestly ask, seek, knock I would get what I was looking for. So I did, just to see what would happen. when nothing did right away I began to taunt and challenge God to show up. He did.
[quote]Do you think that is a healthy way to feel?[/quote]Depends on what you mean by the word healthy. If Healthy has anything to do with mental or physical health then it completely depends on my ablity to find a resolution to the conviction I experienced. As it was that 'resolution' came in the way of the attonement Jesus christ offers. so yes In this situation this was a heathly way for me to feel as it deals with my physical or mental state.
Now if you mean to ask is it 'healthy' as a measure of social conformity, in that do I think, say and do as the majority of the members of this board approve. Then i say no.. But then again, who cares what you say is 'healthy.'
I don't remember having to answer to any of you in the end.
[quote]I too have disturbing nightmares - often I get them when I'm really stressed or ill. I've dreamed some fairly weird things over time and have even kept a dream diary and my conclusion after studying it is that nothing -but nothing- that happens in my dreams is new information.[/quote]
Well, this is where we differ. Everything in the Hell revelation was 'new.' I had a very traditional view of Hell a literal lake of fire a horned devil with a pitch fork pushing everyone in. Hell went from a literal place where the Devil reigned to a nothingness where the devil like everyone elses suffers the same fate. Afterwhich I studied the biblical depictions of Hell (All of them and at some length, not just the illertations of a firey lake) and found my dream to have been more accurate than my sunday school understanding was.
[quote]Everything I dream can be described as a recursion of events, experiences and thoughts that I have had (usually) recently.[/quote]I have NEVER experienced anything like this prior or since.
[quote]I suspect that unresolved psychological issues may underlie. Was the message that you feel you experienced in your nightmare unexpected?[/quote]Yes, get my life together or be cast into Hell after this life is over.
[quote] Perhaps you felt on some level as a Christian that you did deserve to go to hell thereby explaining the dream - who knows? maybe not even yourself.[/quote]At the time I was an Atheist.
[quote]My main concern with the OPs line of reasoning in justifying the dream is this:
I speculate based on this that you stressed yourself out to such an extent over such a long period of time that you triggered your nightmare yourself - your subconscious gave you exactly what you were expecting. [/quote]Again as an atheist douche bag I wasn't expecting to see anything unless I was wrong and God existed, then I felt that He would be obligated to show me the 'proof' I needed because He made a promise to do so.. I was looking for an excuse to live a 'moral' life, and to wash my hands of what little exposure I had with christianity.
[quote]1) Why is it that you think God has shown himself to you when if you think about it he has shown you nothing tangible at all - why not show you a real life burning bush for instance or burn his name in the bonnet of your car with lightning? Basically something that can't be mistaken for, or explained as something else?[/quote]I guess you have not read my "Messenger/message thread.
http://atheistforums.org/thread-13378.html
[quote]2) If you at some point accept this may have just been a dream why is it that some part of you believes that you deserve to burn in Hell? [/quote]At the time I didn't, I a was a big bag of douche much like many of you. I was basically a 'good person,' who had never hurt anyone, and had done more harm than good. I just did not want to live my life under christian rule, and some old man told me about asking God for the 'proof' I needed. That if I just earnestly ask, seek, knock I would get what I was looking for. So I did, just to see what would happen. when nothing did right away I began to taunt and challenge God to show up. He did.
[quote]Do you think that is a healthy way to feel?[/quote]Depends on what you mean by the word healthy. If Healthy has anything to do with mental or physical health then it completely depends on my ablity to find a resolution to the conviction I experienced. As it was that 'resolution' came in the way of the attonement Jesus christ offers. so yes In this situation this was a heathly way for me to feel as it deals with my physical or mental state.
Now if you mean to ask is it 'healthy' as a measure of social conformity, in that do I think, say and do as the majority of the members of this board approve. Then i say no.. But then again, who cares what you say is 'healthy.'
I don't remember having to answer to any of you in the end.
