How Do Christians Know When God Is Speaking to Them?

[Rhondazvous]

My neighbor wanted to move so she prayed for god’s guidance and he told her yes, go on and move.

God does not speak to us in an audible voice that we can distinguish from our own thoughts, so how does a Christian know when god is guiding him and when it’s his own desires, fears and conscience guiding him?

My father was a mental health counselor. He took a special interest in people who heard audible voices. The mainstream Church and the pope will hand you over to people like my father if you claim to hear such a voice. So don't even try to go there.

[Anomalocaris]

When they particularly want what they want, Christians hear God telling them to go get it.

[robvalue]

It seems more like confirmation bias and pattern spotting to me. People assign significance to things, and pick out events that correlate with what they want to believe.

They'll find messages anywhere, if they're looking hard enough. In my experience, most people don't tend to say they hear an audible voice. I'd be seriously worried about anyone who does. It's been suggested to me that people are "thinking aloud" in their head, and so it seems like a voice. Thoughts pop out of nowhere so often, it could be easy to convince yourself that a thought actually came from God, and you could internalise it as a voice.

[ignoramus]

No one has ever heard voices from God that has opposed what they themselves wanted?
Funny how that works, isn't it?
It's almost as if they are telling themselves things and pretending it is God?

[Aoi Magi]

They know it is god, whenever they hear what they want to hear.

[Rhondazvous]

I've heard preachers claim that god told them to talk about something different from what they had originally planned to. I have to believe that because it's not possible for a person to change his mind at the last minute. Only god can do that.

and if you believe that, I have a bridge you might be interested in buying.

[Minimalist]

Is this the only thing a voice in the head ever tells these people to do, is to kill others?
Doesn't a voice ever tell a guy: "go take a shit on the salad bar at wendy's".

George Carlin

[Aoi Magi]

Is this the only thing a voice in the head ever tells these people to do, is to kill others?
Doesn't a voice ever tell a guy: "go take a shit on the salad bar at wendy's".

George Carlin

I am pretty sure if one can imagine it, the voice can and will say it!

[Jehanne]

My father was a mental health counselor. He took a special interest in people who heard audible voices.  The mainstream Church and the pope will hand you over to people like my father if you claim to hear such a voice.  So don't even try to go there.

With some Marian apparitions that churchmen feel that they can exploit, no, they won't refer you to a mental health professional.  Instead, they will use the "miracle" to line their own coffers.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

If people believe that God told them - after prayer - to move, then they wanted to move all along. This is no different than flipping a coin. If you're undecided about whether to move, flip a coin - heads you move, tails you stay. If you're happy that the coin came up heads, then you wanted to move all along.

So, in the final analysis, God's value is no greater than a 50c piece.

Boru