Dreams and Visions

[Redemptionsong]

Have you ever had a dream or vision that you believe was given to you by God?

What makes you believe the dream/vision was from God?

What was the content of the dream or vision, and what do you think it meant?

Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17 speak of such divine revelations occurring 'in the last days'.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

Have you ever had a dream or vision that you believe was given to you by God?

I don't know, really.

It'd also depend on which God we're talking about.

I find my little "divine revelations" though, apply more to me, than messages to others.

 

[anna.]

Have you ever had a dream or vision that you believe was given to you by God?

What makes you believe the dream/vision was from God?

What was the content of the dream or vision, and what do you think it meant?

Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17 speak of such divine revelations occurring 'in the last days'.

I don't believe dreams and visions come from God. The significance of a dream comes from our interpretation of it, the meaning we assign to it. Dreams result from the essential housecleaning the brain does every night while we sleep, sweeping and sorting and storing or discarding billions of bits of the sensory inflow we experience, deciding what to keep and assign to long term memory, what to discard. These bits also contain memories of our emotions: what worried, annoyed, angered us, what gave us joy, contentment, satisfaction.

 

[Redemptionsong]

I don't know, really.

It'd also depend on which God we're talking about.

I find my little "divine revelations" though, apply more to me, than messages to others.

It's quite possible that many of God's revelations, in dreams and visions, are very personal and difficult to share. Just to know that people experience these things is interesting. I happen to sleep pretty soundly most of the time!

I do, however, recall my dad telling me about a recurring dream he had had in which the aircraft that he had flown were all destroyed by fire. He had had a career in the airforce as a pilot. He felt as if the dream was challenging his values.

 

[Redemptionsong]

I don't believe dreams and visions come from God. The significance of a dream comes from our interpretation of it, the meaning we assign to it. Dreams result from the essential housecleaning the brain does every night while we sleep, sweeping and sorting and storing or discarding billions of bits of the sensory inflow we experience, deciding what to keep and assign to long term memory, what to discard. These bits also contain memories of our emotions: what worried, annoyed, angered us, what gave us joy, contentment, satisfaction.

I have no doubt that many dreams are the result of our brain and emotions attempting to make sense of our experiences, but l believe the spirit in man is open to divine influence, and to demonic influence.

 

[anna.]

I have no doubt that many dreams are the result of our brain and emotions attempting to make sense of our experiences, but l believe the spirit in man is open to divine influence, and to demonic influence.

I think that people may believe they have been divinely or demonically influenced, but it is the dreamers themselves who make that decision that they have been.

 

[sun rise]

Have you ever had a dream or vision that you believe was given to you by God?

The question is tricky for me. "Given by God" I have to reword in my mind to "true dreams of profound meaning".

I have had dreams of truly profound meaning.

What makes you believe the dream/vision was from God?

One dream I will relate was about a true event just occurring.

One dream was so profound that I woke up weeping, my life is now different and my memory of it is more present than almost everything else in my life.

What was the content of the dream or vision, and what do you think it meant?

The true one: a dear friend of mine was profoundly ill but I did not know it. At about the exact time of her death, she "flew by me" on her way to higher realms joyously ascending. Days later I found out my "dream" happened at the time she was dropping her physical body.

I don't feel OK about sharing details about the second one because it was so profound and personal that decades later I weep thinking of it.. I will quote from a song that captures an aspect : "Light upon light. Light upon light. God guides whom he will to His Light". (in this case immanent God not transcendent God).

 

[1213]

...
What makes you believe the dream/vision was from God?...

I have not had, but if I would have, I would check is the message in line with the teachings of Bible and is the message good/useful.

 

[Redemptionsong]

I think that people may believe they have been divinely or demonically influenced, but it is the dreamers themselves who make that decision that they have been.

Most people would say that, without a spiritual existence, it is impossible to know the future. Yet, with some dreams, there appears to be a 'foreseeing' of events. How would you explain this phenomenon? Is it simply a matter of coincidence?

 

[QuestioningMind]

Have you ever had a dream or vision that you believe was given to you by God?

What makes you believe the dream/vision was from God?

What was the content of the dream or vision, and what do you think it meant?

Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17 speak of such divine revelations occurring 'in the last days'.

Why would anyone attribute any dream they had to anything other than a product of their subconscious mind?

 

[Redemptionsong]

Why would anyone attribute any dream they had to anything other than a product of their subconscious mind?

In the Bible, the following are examples of people who had informative dreams from God: Abimelech, Jacob, Laban, Joseph, Pharaoh (and servants), Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, Joseph (NT), wise men, and Pilate's wife.

I'm not aware of dreams recorded in other holy books, but l'm sure others on RFs can help!

 

[Bird123]

Have you ever had a dream or vision that you believe was given to you by God?

What makes you believe the dream/vision was from God?

What was the content of the dream or vision, and what do you think it meant?

Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17 speak of such divine revelations occurring 'in the last days'.

When I was a young teenager, I was handy at fixing many things. One day my parents noticed there was a lot of standing water under the house. It was a mud hole swamp under there. The only fitting under the house around that area was the main water cutoff to the house. Even with the water turned off, it was going to be a nasty, wet, muddy job.

By the time I got everything to replace the valve, it was late in the day. I decided to wait until morning so I would have all day to get the water back on. Let it leak until then.

I slept really good that night. I had a dream that the water faucet in front of the house was just running and running. The next morning, I ran to the faucet in front of the house. Sure enough, someone had left it on. All that water flooded the front and ran under the house. The valve under the house was never leaking at all. I turned off the faucet in the front, then a couple of days later everything was dry.

OK, dreams and God, I would never assume any dream I had was from God. On the other hand, I would never assume the information was accurate or not. I would do like I do with any new piece of information. I would investigate to determine whether the information was true or not. In the case of the water leak, it was true and I did not have to swim in that swampy wet mud hole to replace that valve.

Take each case on it's merit. Remember, God might give you information, however God is never going to tell you what to do or intimidate your free choices. I wasn't told to turn off the faucet but only that it was on.

That's what I see. It's very clear!!

 

[QuestioningMind]

In the Bible, the following are examples of people who had informative dreams from God: Abimelech, Jacob, Laban, Joseph, Pharaoh (and servants), Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, Joseph (NT), wise men, and Pilate's wife.

I'm not aware of dreams recorded in other holy books, but l'm sure others on RFs can help!

That's a list of people that the bible claims had dreams from god. And if those people actually existed it's possible that they had dreams that they did attribute to god. But that doesn't indicate that their dreams actually did come from some god. I could just as easily attribute any dream that I have to magical pixies. The fact that I'm convinced they come from magical pixies is in no way an indication that my dreams actually do come from magical pixies.

 

[QuestioningMind]

When I was a young teenager, I was handy at fixing many things. One day my parents noticed there was a lot of standing water under the house. It was a mud hole swamp under there. The only fitting under the house around that area was the main water cutoff to the house. Even with the water turned off, it was going to be a nasty, wet, muddy job.

By the time I got everything to replace the valve, it was late in the day. I decided to wait until morning so I would have all day to get the water back on. Let it leak until then.

I slept really good that night. I had a dream that the water faucet in front of the house was just running and running. The next morning, I ran to the faucet in front of the house. Sure enough, someone had left it on. All that water flooded the front and ran under the house. The valve under the house was never leaking at all. I turned off the faucet in the front, then a couple of days later everything was dry.

OK, dreams and God, I would never assume any dream I had was from God. On the other hand, I would never assume the information was accurate or not. I would do like I do with any new piece of information. I would investigate to determine whether the information was true or not. In the case of the water leak, it was true and I did not have to swim in that swampy wet mud hole to replace that valve.

Take each case on it's merit. Remember, God might give you information, however God is never going to tell you what to do or intimidate your free choices. I wasn't told to turn off the faucet but only that it was on.

That's what I see. It's very clear!!

I'm confused as to what you concluded in this case. Are you convinced that some god entity sent you this message in a dream or did you conclude that overnight your subconscious mind stumbled upon another possible explanation for the flooded basement?

 

[anna.]

Most people would say that, without a spiritual existence, it is impossible to know the future. Yet, with some dreams, there appears to be a 'foreseeing' of events. How would you explain this phenomenon? Is it simply a matter of coincidence?

Just my thoughts, but if someone is on your mind in your waking hours, it's not at all surprising they'll be in your dreams in some way. Perhaps not in any way you might've predicted; the way the brain puts together bits and pieces (as we all know who have vivid and memorable dreams), can be wild, fascinating, beautiful, terrifying, and everything in between.

Since I believe in God, I don't discount some possibility of communication, but the most likely explanation to me is that someone may have what is a very profound dream and assign it to some message from a higher power without perhaps really appreciating how incredibly fascinating and amazing is the power of our unconscious minds.

 

[Redemptionsong]

That's a list of people that the bible claims had dreams from god. And if those people actually existed it's possible that they had dreams that they did attribute to god. But that doesn't indicate that their dreams actually did come from some god. I could just as easily attribute any dream that I have to magical pixies. The fact that I'm convinced they come from magical pixies is in no way an indication that my dreams actually do come from magical pixies.

What evidence do you think would be required to be certain a dream came from God?

 

[QuestioningMind]

What evidence do you think would be required to be certain a dream came from God?

I'm not certain that it's possible for a person to have any sort of evidence that would verify that a dream they had came from any sort of a god being. First I'd need some sort of evidence that it's possible for a person's dreams to come from anything other than their subconscious mind. If that can be established to be true then we'd have to find a way to determine if the source of those dreams are some god being or magical pixies or perhaps another source all together.

 

[Redemptionsong]

I'm not certain that it's possible for a person to have any sort of evidence that would verify that a dream they had came from any sort of a god being. First I'd need some sort of evidence that it's possible for a person's dreams to come from anything other than their subconscious mind. If that can be established to be true then we'd have to find a way to determine if the source of those dreams are some god being or magical pixies or perhaps another source all together.

Can you explain consciousness? Or life?

It sounds to me as if you rely so heavily on scientific reasoning that you've overlooked the possibility of faith and revelation.

When Nebuchadnezzar had a vivid dream, he didn't describe the dream and then ask for an interpretation. He asked for the dream to be retold and then explained! If the dream was not described accurately then it was assumed that the interpretation could not be true. Clever man. But maybe a little harsh on all those worried advisers and wise men who had no faith in God, knowing they were in for the chop. [Daniel 2]

 

[TransmutingSoul]

I'm not aware of dreams recorded in other holy books, but l'm sure others on RFs can help!

Dreams form a very strong bond in every God given Faith, there are hundreds of recorded dreams in the Baha'i Writings.

A disciple of the Bab, the only Woman named Tahirih became a follower of the Bab through a dream, she never met the Bab in person and she was the Last Disciple.

This link lists quite a few.

Dreams mentioned in Bahá'í Literature

Regards Tony

 

[TransmutingSoul]

I have no doubt that many dreams are the result of our brain and emotions attempting to make sense of our experiences, but l believe the spirit in man is open to divine influence, and to demonic influence.

There is actually a lot written about dreams now, in the Baha'i Writings, they are very interesting.

From memory there is 3 levels of dreams.

Dreams tied to the material world born out of out material experiences.

Dreams of a Divine nature, pure and connected to the Spiritual worlds

A mixture of both.

Regards Tony