Warm Fuzzies (paradise, Revelation, experience, pray, eternity)

[Kungfuzed]

Warm fuzzies, peace, a burning in the busom, a moment of clarity are a few ways to describe the influence of the Holy Spirit. Some say that this is the means by which God communicates with us, a way to confirm the truth.

My position is that these feelings are natural human emotions. Who doesn't feel good when they realize they are loved unconditionally? Who wouldn't feel a burden lifted from their shoulders if they were told that an all powerful force was guiding and protecting them? Who wouldn't feel a sense of euphoria knowing that they are immortal and will live in a paradise for eternity? Isn't it much more likely to have a moment of clarity when you take the time away from the busy world to quiet down and focus? Is there any reason to believe that these experiences come from anywhere outside of our own mind? Do we not have these feelings even when reading something we know is fictional? Could this all not be the placebo effect of having an omnipotent, omniscient, loving, imaginary friend?

[PHOTOTAKER]

i thank we need to find some crateria to be able to explore this... just asking question only get people ideas not any facts...

would you agree to that this needs to be established?

[Kungfuzed]

Originally Posted by PHOTOTAKER

i thank we need to find some crateria to be able to explore this... just asking question only get people ideas not any facts...

would you agree to that this needs to be established?

Well, at this point I really don't have alot of facts. I'm hoping my questions will attract alot of posts from people who have more facts to provide. It's hard to establish facts and criteria on something so subjective as this. What we should be shooting for is how to determine the source of our emotions in terms of experiencing the Holy Spirit.

[Sunstone]

Many people associate a feeling and perception of all embracing love such as they've never felt before with the Holy Spirit.

[uumckk16]

Originally Posted by PHOTOTAKER

i thank we need to find some crateria to be able to explore this... just asking question only get people ideas not any facts...

would you agree to that this needs to be established?

I don't understand your concern...what sort of criteria?

[Kungfuzed]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Many people associate a feeling and perception of all embracing love such as they've never felt before with the Holy Spirit.

A great deal of love is imaginary. For instance, a man might procrastonate for years before he asks a woman out on a date. In the meantime he'll fantisize about her. He'll have imaginary conversations and wonder what it's like to date her. He'll start forming an image in his mind of who he thinks she is (which is really just an image of who he wants her to be). He'll fall in love with this image (I know this guy sounds like a lunatic but this is just an analogy, just remember back when you were a teenager). Of course, he'll discover in the end that the image of the woman he built up in his mind never existed to begin with. The love he felt was a real emotion, but it was triggered by something that didn't exist in reality.

Now think about how this could apply to God. God is at a distance, untouchable. All we have is a rough sketch of ancient stories to go by. We read that He is perfect in every way. He created us. He's our Father in Heaven. He knows each and every one of us. He loves us more than we can imagine. We build a glorious image of him in our mind greater than any human being. If we follow Him and have faith and pray we can have a personal relationship with Him. We start talking to Him in our mind and even out loud when we're alone. We want so much to make contact, we want more than anything for it to be true. We imagine Him in heaven with outstretched arms welcoming our prayers, telling us He loves us. It's overwhelming. It triggers a rush of euphoria, love, warm fuzzies, an indescribable experience and because of it we'll never be the same. Was it something that came from up above or just something we built up in our own mind? Is there really any way to know?

[PHOTOTAKER]

Originally Posted by uumckk16

I don't understand your concern...what sort of criteria?

i don't know maybe something that has a set of questions to ask like envroment, the activity that it was felt like reading, music, talk or sermon, ect...

i did this a long time ago to really figure out what each ment i didn't under stand fully why i felt this way... some were just feeling some were just becouse of the envroment and some were completely unexplanable and tend to deal with truth...

and some dealt with loving to be in love, instead of being in love... with relationships...

[uumckk16]

Originally Posted by PHOTOTAKER

i don't know maybe something that has a set of questions to ask like envroment, the activity that it was felt like reading, music, talk or sermon, ect...

i did this a long time ago to really figure out what each ment i didn't under stand fully why i felt this way... some were just feeling some were just becouse of the envroment and some were completely unexplanable and tend to deal with truth...

and some dealt with loving to be in love, instead of being in love... with relationships...

Okay...how about...

Have you ever experienced a feeling you attributed to God? A revelation, a feeling of love, a confirmation of something you were praying to ask about, even visions or hearing God talking to you? Where were you, what were you doing, what did you feel/experience, and why do you attribute this experience to God? What made it different from other everyday experiences? Do you think there could possibly be another explanation?

Questions like that?

[lizskid]

Well, as to the statement about normal feelings...I guess I can tell you that I feel very close to God and also VERY much at peace when I am with someone or helping some one who is dying. I don't think that would be generally a normal emotion or reaction, but it is what I have and what called me to ministry and the thanatology study. I don't know if that qualifies as a fact or not, but it is my routine experience in that situation.

[Fluffy]

Personally, I think that the term numinous is the most accurate way of describing the necessary components of a religious experience. That is such experience must feel awe-inspiring (which may perhaps evidence itself as belittlement, love, duty etc) and sourced outside of the self.

This is indeed a possibility that religious experience might be a delusion but I would hope that such a possibility need not be pointed out when it should be fairly evident.

The person who has a religious experience is unable to verify the source of that experience. So it does not matter whether the experience is real or not since the theory that it is real lacks the explanatory power of accounting for it in some other way that is verifiable.