How would you know........

[ninerbuff]

So how would you know if your god was communicating with you? In other words if you were told by a "prophet" to give up everything because it was god's wish, how do know if that is really what god wanted? Were you communicated to? Or is it an inner feeling? And if others disagree with you who are of the same denomination, how do you justify what your action you take? How can you tell if what the "prophet" stated is true?

 

[Father Heathen]

Schizophrenics hear voices in their heads and then become the interpreters/middlemen for everyone else.

 

[strikeviperMKII]

So how would you know if your god was communicating with you? In other words if you were told by a "prophet" to give up everything because it was god's wish, how do know if that is really what god wanted? Were you communicated to? Or is it an inner feeling? And if others disagree with you who are of the same denomination, how do you justify what your action you take? How can you tell if what the "prophet" stated is true?

How do you know, indeed. Unless you actually ride your bike, how do you learn to ride it? Unless you drive a car, how do you learn to drive one?
I think a more pertinent question is 'what is God?' If you take someone else's word that they are speaking for God, then you are basically just following what they say, whether they are speaking for God or not. A better way to do it is to find out what God is for yourself.

 

[ninerbuff]

How do you know, indeed. Unless you actually ride your bike, how do you learn to ride it? Unless you drive a car, how do you learn to drive one?
I think a more pertinent question is 'what is God?' If you take someone else's word that they are speaking for God, then you are basically just following what they say, whether they are speaking for God or not. A better way to do it is to find out what God is for yourself.

An open mind to it, like many believers here apparently have, doesn't seem to show consistency except that there's a belief. Isn't more about what an individual deems god is to them and that makes their view subjective?

 

[jmvizanko]

So how would you know if your god was communicating with you? In other words if you were told by a "prophet" to give up everything because it was god's wish, how do know if that is really what god wanted? Were you communicated to? Or is it an inner feeling? And if others disagree with you who are of the same denomination, how do you justify what your action you take? How can you tell if what the "prophet" stated is true?

You can't know. People of contradicting theologies experience "communication" from their deities. This illustrates that whatever these people are all experiencing, they use it as justification that their specific god exists. But they all can't be right, so either one group who is experiencing these phenomena are actually experiencing it, and the rest of them are just deluded by their interpretation of reality that suggests they are correct, or they are all equally deluded. Or god really likes to mess with us by giving different religious people direct evidence for their specific god's existence.

Personally I'v never heard any specific claims about god communication that weren't vague descriptions of coincidence and good things happening to people. But those things seem to be good enough to the people of blind faith. But to me the entire thing just boils down to expectation bias, subjective validation, the placebo effect, and a failure to understand coincidence as it relates to the probabilistic law of truly large numbers. That and legitimate insanity that produces voices and apparitions.

But just for the hell of it, I'll yet again ask anyone reading this for specific personal examples of communication from god. And I can confidently say ahead of time that you won't see any response that doesn't resemble something vague like "its just a feeling" or "such and such amazing thing happened to me."

 

[Midnight Pete]

Schizophrenics hear voices in their heads and then become the interpreters/middlemen for everyone else.

Interesting that you should bring up the link between religious experience and mental illness. What exactly is the difference between God communicating with you and having delusions of that nature? When a person is suffering from a mental illness like schizophrenia, you can usually tell.

 

[strikeviperMKII]

An open mind to it, like many believers here apparently have, doesn't seem to show consistency except that there's a belief. Isn't more about what an individual deems god is to them and that makes their view subjective?

All I can say is that when you experience God, it doesn't ever happen because someone else told you what God was. God is not something that you do, but something done to you. You just allow it to happen. This experience is completely subjective, but equally universal.

 

[james2ko]

So how would you know if your god was communicating with you? In other words if you were told by a "prophet" to give up everything because it was god's wish, how do know if that is really what god wanted? Were you communicated to? Or is it an inner feeling? And if others disagree with you who are of the same denomination, how do you justify what your action you take? How can you tell if what the "prophet" stated is true?

It's in our instruction manual:

Deu 18:20-22 But any prophet who falsely claims to speak in My name or who speaks in the name of another god must die.' 21 "But you may wonder, 'How will we know whether or not a prophecy is from the LORD?' 22 If the prophet speaks in the LORD's name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the LORD did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without My authority and need not be feared. (New Living Translation)

 

[JustWondering]

It's in our instruction manual: :fork:

Deu 18:20-22 But any prophet who falsely claims to speak in My name or who speaks in the name of another god must die.

If you hear voices telling you to hurt people it is probably mental illness. Ignore them and get professional help. Unfortunately, they knew nothing of mental illness during the dark ages.

 

[Father Heathen]

What exactly is the difference between God communicating with you and having delusions of that nature?

None?

 

[demonIntegral]

How do you know when god is speaking to you?
He ain't. If he was, wouldn't be no question.
Got a problem with a prophet?
Stone 'em. If you're the forgiving sort, you can always ask if he is insane. Any prophet claiming sanity is at odds both with the historical record and scripture (assuming, of course, one reads between the lines.) If you're a believer, be warned by 2 Thessalonians - real prophets can be either true or false, and still be entitled by god. Yet, in this day and age, anybody can claim anything. History Channel told me Christ has returned in three different incarnations - supposedly even interviewed. But I don't watch much TV.
Schizophrenia?
You betcha. Curious, that one percent of the human race suffers from such a thing, regardless of race, color, or creed. It is my hypothesis that one allows for the other, and what causes certain mental illnesses is the processing of simultaniety. Typically, when the mind goes off in three different directions at once; two are discarded. There may be a memory, or the memory of a dream, or a lost moment. The schizophrenic, however, has no innate protection; and each reality is equally real. Since the "learned professionals" subscribe to but a single objective reality, medication is proscribed.
But why would such things matter? I got a piece of "gospel" for ya - god does not do sequential time. Since I take issue with such limited, but meanigless terms such as "almighty," or "omni," it is my contention that god possesses universal simultaniety. Everywhere, at once, and always. Essentially, god does not "communicate" as we know it. Ain't no, subject, verb, direct object; there's visions, the Holy Spirit, a time to speak, and a time to listen. Prophet gets nothing from god in the now. Prophet gets a seed. Seed grows in the fertile field of human interaction, depending on culture, context, the age, and the political climate. "Words of God" originate between the prophet - who knows god, but is "unknowable" due to his insanity - and the priest who is receptive of a consistant theology and can elucidate such in terms the public can understand - or so I hypothesize.
Don't matter. God got something to say, you'll hear it; and you'll hear it at the exact moment that you need to hear it. Ain't no god so big, ain't got time to speak to you. Somebody call himself a title, try to convince you of something, speak in words and concepts you don't understand; that ain't communication. Somebody try to get you to choose other than life, talk about the greater good, or the lesser evil, or sacrifices must be made; let the prophet do the sacrificing. Thing is, with god; everybody wins, yet often those who claim titles look to make someone a loser.

 

[Father Heathen]

What assessment would you make of those who like turtles?