My story! I am an Ex-Muslim, became and Atheist. I was visited by an Angel of God.

[robvalue]

Edit: never mind.

[Iroscato]

I agree with you on this matter. I have another weird experience, but i already know the explanation of it. 


A while back I went into surgery and after it was over, the Doctor prescribed me Antibiotics treatment, I have to take the pills twice a day for 5 days. The drug caused me severe side effects, including hallucinations. I could not fall a sleep, i was up in my bed for 6 hours straight. during these hours I was experiencing strange nightmares were I am playing as character from a video game called Portal, In my mind I am having dream like visions that I am jumping from portal to portal shooting laser using a gun just like in the game. I felt it was real, because i was half conscious and not completely a sleep. 

My explanation that i was under the influence of Antibiotics drugs, and it somehow interfered with my memory and formed this weird vision. If you notice, here we have a clear sign of hallucination, am i correct?

Right, now we're making progress. It's also a proven fact that your brain can retroactively change memories. What you remember is never set in stone, and it's surprisingly easy for memories to be completely rewritten and not even be aware of it.
Wanna know something embrassing? One time when I was absolutely smashed, and also high as fuck, I literally believed I was Thor. I don't mean I was pretending to be him, I mean I was completely convinced he and I were one and the same. My brain - temporarily, mind you - had rewritten itself after being addled by drink and drugs as well as dealing with moderate depression, and resulted in such thrilling escapades like me trying to open my hotel door by summoning lightning to blast it down with.
What I'm saying is...memory is not set in stone, even to a sober, healthy, well-rested human being. When you factor in sleepiness or sleep deprivation, an imbalance in brain chemistry due to antibiotics or other drugs, or stress, or depression, or epilepsy, you get shit like what you experienced happening.

[robvalue]

Yep. I've managed to convince myself that music from a computer game is different to how it actually is, to the point where the original music actually sounds wrong to me. So I have to consider, what is more likely? My memory is distorted, or every copy of the game has somehow had its music slightly changed since I played it?

My guess it this experience is very special to you, so you don't want to think about the possibility that it wasn't in some way real.

And to be fair to us, you didn't say you were looking for answers to begin with, you said you were just telling us angels and god exist and that we should accept that.

[Hatshepsut]

I began to examine the evidence of what i saw was a truly an Angel, or was just a figment of my own imagination...[I] have disbelieved in God, but he never forsaken me!

I won't come on like the RationalWiki fan club will and dismiss such an experience as {bull with tail raised}. Perhaps things like this can come from a source we call God. Yet they remain individual nonetheless. The longer I've gone on, the less convinced I am that religion can accurately portray the mind of God or the relationship between God and human beings in a created universe. Religion at large chose not to respond to the challenge of atheism in a meaningful way, leaving us the impression that it can't do so. Which is why you see the victory dance of Bill Maher and Richard Dawkins, and why the gifts religion could offer to humankind go unused.

That's all neither here nor there to me, as I believe relationships with the divine are meant to be enjoyed in private or with fellowships, rather than to slam into our planet as a set of do-or-die rules. The disciplinarians took the gentle discipline out of God; the authoritarians squandered away his legitimacy.

You've given us zero information that we can verify, yet you're asking for verification...

...Its impossible to prove...other than the spirit pulled my leg.

The word may be "validation." As what a social worker does with a client. The "Trickster" of course is a favorite among Ute storytellers in North America. You gotta watch for him, he's always pulling someone's leg.  

Even you cannot verify the spirit pulled your leg, you are relying on your memory of the event. Memory is notoriously unreliable.

Especially mine. Now I know why they have that "medication minder," the little pillbox with 7 lids marked Sun, Mon, Tue, ...  

[Prince]

I can see that your signature has Carl Sagan quote. Did you know Carl Sagan is my hero. I have read his book called "The Demon-Haunted World", you should read it. In his book, he talks about many cases concerning hallucinations, dreams and visions. I understand each analysis he made about every spiritual encounter and alien abductions cases in the book, he also concluded that all we have are stories created by human based only on mere imagination. And not built on true evidence. 

Dude, when i speak, i speak the truth. The evidence i provided seemed rational to me, because it does not meet the criteria which its found in the book. IF you examine all other cases, you will notice that the scenario i provided is way different from the others.

Awesome. He's one of my heroes too, and is in fact the main source from which I draw my nigh-unshakeable faith in the human race. He was a truly marvelous and gifted human being who could spin poetry from the threads of the universe.
In view of this, and his stance on such matters, what do you think Sagan would make of this? Of you? Of the process of thought that you have used to evaluate it?
You must weigh the evidence properly in your mind, and not give into the emotion of the experience you think you had.
Weigh it against all the other sighting of demons and UFO's and fuck knows what else and ask yourself...'why is this in any way different to those countless other mistakes, frauds, and hallucinations?'

His popular TV show Cosmos, opened my eyes, in unlocking some of the mysteries of the universe. 

Well, i have based my evidence on spirituality more on reality itself. I think Carl would examine the facts based on different perspective, such as: What if in my mind i always wanted to believe in an Angel or a spiritual being. And in my dreams, i formed an image like Angel, unconsciously i thought i was seeing an actual spirit, but in reality it was just a figment of my own imagination or hallucination. 

[Iroscato]

Yep. I've managed to convince myself that music from a computer game is different to how it actually is, to the point where the original music actually sounds wrong to me. So I have to consider, what is more likely? My memory is distorted, or every copy of the game has somehow had its music slightly changed since I played it?

Fuck you, my one's better

[robvalue]

Rational wiki club? I never once said the experience wasn't real.

All we can talk about is what is most likely.

Prince: I think your imagined answer from Sagan is exactly the rational response.

[Mr.wizard]

It seems odd that an ex-Muslim Atheist who thinks religion is bullshit would look to the bible for answers about an experience he had. I also find it hard to believe he had no prior knowledge of angel descriptions until he read the bible.

[Prince]

Yep. I've managed to convince myself that music from a computer game is different to how it actually is, to the point where the original music actually sounds wrong to me. So I have to consider, what is more likely? My memory is distorted, or every copy of the game has somehow had its music slightly changed since I played it?

My guess it this experience is very special to you, so you don't want to think about the possibility that it wasn't in some way real.

And to be fair to us, you didn't say you were looking for answers to begin with, you said you were just telling us angels and god exist and that we should accept that.

I was bringing to the possibility that God and Angels might exists based on what i have experienced. That's all. Plus, i was not sure and i really needed some opinions as well. 

I guess i was being an asshole, my bad!

[Hatshepsut]

Rational wiki club? I never once said the experience wasn't real.

No, you did not. That was Cato, seconded by StuW on page 1.