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| Thread: Spiritual encounters | |
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Istari
Known Hero
Truth Teller, ToH
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posted June 25, 2007 04:22 PM |
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Spiritual encounters
I have recently spent some time reading a huge thread titled, "I gave up believing in god." It's a great thread and I recommend it to people who haven't read it. In this thread I saw a few posts from people stating that they have had spiritual encounters (some good, some bad). I thought it would be neat to open a thread for people to talk about any spiritual feelings or encounters they may have had. The only guidelines that would ask for this thread is that people be honest (don't make stuff up because you're bored) and don't insult each other's experiences. It would be cool if we can really get people talking about this, but I realize that the only people who will likely post are those who are confident they are not crazy, and aren't afraid of what other's may say about them.
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Opinions are immunity to being told you're wrong.
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Istari
Known Hero
Truth Teller, ToH
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posted June 25, 2007 04:42 PM |
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Since I opened the topic, I can be the first to share my experience. I have never heard an audible voice from God or seen a spirit. My experience may be more mundane. My Freshman year of college I learned what the Holy Spirit sounded like. Sounded like may not be the right words, because like I said it's not audible to me. I will let you know that I am Christian, though that probably means very different things depending on your view of Christianity. To understand the type of Christian I am, you will have to get to me. Anyways, we had a study room in my dorm that no one ever used. I used to go in there by myself, no Bible, no journal, and clear my mind. I guess this is a type of meditation. I cleared my mind and just sat there. It was really hard to not think about anything and it took me a while before I could do it. Anytime a thought came into my head I cleared it out and just sat there. The first few times nothing happened and I would lose focus or consentration, my thoughts would wonder, and I'd give up. It didn't take long though and I began to experience the Holy Spirit. I experienced Him (I us Him for lack of a better pronoun) as a warmth that starts in chest, and bubbles outward. When I am experiencing the Holy Spirit in this way it is hard not to smile. The feeling soon becomes too intense (though still gentle) to keep inside me and it feels like it is pouring out of me. It feels like the more I pour out the more I feel, like it is not meant to be bottled up and stored. I feel at peace and content. I can rest assured that God is real and is with me. This feeling only lasted about 5 minutes (though it feels much longer) at first. Once I learned what the Spirit felt like to me, it was much easier to connect with Him. It was easier to clear my mind the more I did it. The experience would happed faster and last longer. I believe that God is always present and is always longing to love us and be connected with us so experiencing God is not a matter of bringing Him to me, its a matter of me realizing that He is already here. Now, I am able to experience the Holy Spirit in some of my favorite activities. I will sometimes experience the Holy Spirit staying up late and talking with good friends, playing pool, playing disc golf, or fishing.
This thread may not take off, and people may not want to be open about there experiences. It would be cool though...
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Opinions are immunity to being told you're wrong.
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Drakon-Deus
Undefeatable Hero
Qapla'
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posted June 26, 2007 02:49 PM |
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After I pray I have some sort of "warm feeling" like the one you describe.When I pray I always put the ones I love first,asking God to take care of them,for us to have food,to protect us from Satan etc and I pray that only His will not mine will be fulfiled.I also pray for the poor,for the old,the sick,for the good people,for the sinners that should ask for forgiveness and I try not to be very proud of that,because I learned pride is a great sin.That "warm feeling" is hard to describe...all I can say is that I feel great.After seeing threads like: "I gave up on believeing in God" and "Proposals to become God-like and infinite" I became confused,but then I thought that I should never doubt god's existence,for He loves us all and He will forgive our sins and felt sorry for the ones that don't believe in Him or even worse,the ones who want to be like Him.
Your replies to TitaniumAlloy's"I gave up pn believeing in God" helped me find my way and deny the posibilty that God does not exist.I thank you for helping me return to the right path.You are a great Christian.
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Istari
Known Hero
Truth Teller, ToH
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posted June 26, 2007 03:59 PM |
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Edited by Istari at 16:03, 26 Jun 2007.
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Thank you, that is very nice to hear. It's refreshing to hear from another Christian, it seems that most Christians chose to remain silent in these threads (don't know why). And don't worry too much about the posts by TA and other's in "I gave up believing in God." Think of how hard it is to explain that warm feeling you get when you pray. As a believer I understand what you mean. By its very nature it is hard to describe. Someone who does not believe and has not experienced such feelings will probably not understand. They talk about what they don't know because they haven't experienced it. Anyways, keep up the good that our faith calls us toward and always be motivated by God's love.
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Opinions are immunity to being told you're wrong.
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baklava
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Mostly harmless
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posted June 26, 2007 06:27 PM |
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Hehe, your posts remind me of the time I actually believed in the 'God loves us all' and 'it will all be good as long as he protects us from Satan' stuff... Those were good times  Unfortunately later in life I learned that things aren't that simple. But never mind, I'm not posting here to discuss that.
I did have a spiritual encounter once (not too long ago even) and it was pretty weird, namely I was lying in my bed waiting to fall asleep and I did, after some time. I dreamt that I woke up in the middle of the night, in that same bed, in the same position I fell asleep in, and that a small wooden icon I hold on my bookshelf started hovering and glooming in the dark. I was stunned and, to admit, it was kinda scary. Suddenly I felt a strong need to pray so I closed my eyes and prayed. When I opened my eyes, the icon was back in its place, wooden and steady as always. I thought "Hm, well that was weird" and as I turned around to lay back, I saw a tall figure, all in white, shining and peaceful, next to my bed. It was holding an open book with letters written in Byzantine blue colour. I wasn't afraid anymore, so I looked in the book. However I couldn't read what was written there... I don't remember anything else, until I woke up that morning. It may have all been a dream, but it made me wonder, you know, it WAS pretty unusual... I felt different all day... And everyone I told that said simply "how do you know it was just a dream?" which wasn't helpful at all...
From that day on I felt that I remained christian but somehow altered... I no longer felt the black/white simplicity or believed in heaven and hell and other crap that the Church made up and wrote in the bible to control people. I don't think much about the afterlife or God as a separate entity or anything like that, since we are obviously neither meant nor capable to know that. Today I just believe in what I know is right and natural... I think that's what christianity was supposed to be in the first place, not a bunch of begging, brainwashing, rules, taxes and crusades.
Sorry I've strayed off the subject a bit But I simply had to empty this somewhere...
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"Let me tell you what the blues
is. When you ain't got no
money,
you got the blues."
Howlin Wolf
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