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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 18, 2015 at 6:24 am
No, I've never had one. I've heard ex-theists talk about this though, and they have had what they genuinely thought were religious experiences. But looking back at them as an atheist, they are able to see how they were jumping to false conclusions or just agreeing with what everyone else said.
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 18, 2015 at 8:29 am
My religious experience consists of being bored rigid while sitting through mass.
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 18, 2015 at 8:31 am
No I haven't, and I consider myself lucky for not being so afflicted. I've heard that you will have them if you stimulate certain parts of the brain.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 18, 2015 at 8:56 am
(This post was last modified: January 18, 2015 at 8:58 am by The Grand Nudger.)
(January 18, 2015 at 2:49 am)tantric Wrote: The feeling that comes on after you're past exhaustion and getting a second wind, the glorious floating, the energy, the love, I used to live for that. "C130 rollin down the strip........"
Your description reminds me of every 5 mile formation I ever ran. Every 20mile forced march I plodded through, staring at the boots of the guy ahead of me, drafting in his exhaust. I suspect that your idea of a "religious experience" is flexible enough to include just about -any- experience, depending on who's having it, while simultaneously excluding just about any experience, depending on who's had it. There are a couple of other guys here who are probably thinking "Fuck you Rhythm, that shit blew and it was pure drudgery, I felt nothing but fatigue", eh?
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 18, 2015 at 9:08 am
(This post was last modified: January 18, 2015 at 9:08 am by Mudhammam.)
I had some emotional highs as a youth in church that I interpreted as God at the time. Now I look back and chuckle at my naivety. The most intense experiences that I've had, though more existential and terrifying or sublime than anything particularly religious, was on LSD, shrooms, and ecstasy (not all at once, of course).
He who loves God cannot endeavour that God should love him in return - Baruch Spinoza
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 18, 2015 at 9:13 am
When I was religious I had several moments of what I would call a religious high while praying. At the time, I thought it was god but now I realize I had somehow put myself into that state. The human brain is amazing.
Once I tried to convince a Pentecostal that the feelings she experienced while being slain in the spirit were real but the exact same thing people in Voodoo or a shaman experienced and came from her brain not god. That didn't go over well
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 18, 2015 at 11:10 am
I had a full-on revelatory dream: waking up in a cold sweat, the meaning of it popping into my mind a minute after waking, etc. Thirty years later, the content of that vivid dream still speaks to me. I do not, however, make factual attributions about where the experience came from. It's no less valuable to my world view if it's a product of bad pickles than if it was given to me by God.
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 18, 2015 at 11:18 am
If I had a 'religious experience I wouldnt be an atheist.
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 18, 2015 at 11:26 am
(This post was last modified: January 18, 2015 at 11:28 am by Davka.)
(January 18, 2015 at 6:05 am)One Above All Wrote: Yes. Back when I was a theist.
^^this^^
(January 18, 2015 at 9:08 am)Pickup_shonuff Wrote: . . . LSD, shrooms, and ecstasy (not all at once, of course).
Wimp.
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RE: Atheists: have you ever had a religious experience and what did you make of it?
January 18, 2015 at 11:36 am
I've experienced interesting states of consciousness of a sort one might want to describe as religious if one was religious. So of course they didn't seem religious to me.
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