Christian Denial...how do you reconcile it?

Albion said:

To answer you, I'd say, first, that I don't believe that 99% of those who insist that they've either heard God's voice answering them, or held literal conversations with God, are correct about that. We have God's word in Scripture and we can experience God's answer to prayer in how events develop. Sometimes God grants our requests and sometimes he does not. I don't find this especially perplexing or hard to accept.

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I do.

"Sometimes God grants our requests and sometimes he does not" just makes God sound petulant and/or indifferent.

Hetta said:

I do.

"Sometimes God grants our requests and sometimes he does not" just makes God sound petulant and/or indifferent.

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Well, it's always a good idea not to impute to God the weakest of human emotions. He certainly knows what he's doing, even if it seems petulant or unfair or uncaring to us.

Albion said:

Well, it's always a good idea not to impute to God the weakest of human emotions. He certainly knows what he's doing, even if it seems petulant or unfair or uncaring to us.

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I didn't say it seemed that way to me - I said that is what the portrayal looks like.

Hetta said:

I didn't say it seemed that way to me - I said that is what the portrayal looks like.

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So..your two-word reply ("I do") was NOT given in response to what I had written (and you quoted) which was the following: "We have God's word in Scripture and we can experience God's answer to prayer in how events develop. Sometimes God grants our requests and sometimes he does not. I don't find this especially perplexing or hard to accept."



Hopefully, you can see that you appeared to say "I do" to me saying that it's not especially confusing or hard to accept that God sometimes gives us what we ask for and sometimes doesn't?

"I do" was in response to "I don't find this especially perplexing or hard to accept."

I don't hold the same beliefs about the way that things work.

There were a lot of times I thought that God was talking to me when in fact I was just developing schizophrenia. During that time I was constantly seeking signs and trying to verify if the voices were truth or lying. It turned out that 99% of what the voices said were lies, and trying to figure out if they were really of God or not was good, because once I was on the medicine and could think again, I realized that God had not been any of the voices.
Anyways. There was one time I think, before I developed schizophrenia that God talked to me during sleep paralysis. He basically told me stuff you can find in the Bible and would be common sense. But one thing he told me to do was to ask my mom for forgiveness and stop fighting back when she started fights. So I did. Then she went ballistic for another 5 years or so and just got worse and worse and worse, and screwed my brother out of college by constantly yelling at him, and then she ran off to one of her sister's places and got a divorce from my dad. By the time she came back, after screaming so loudly and constantly at all of the relatives that they all kicked her out, and dad was paying for her to live by herself in Kentucky, she came back and now has been acting about as nice as she is capable of. Even if she does occasionally tell me that she wishes that she had never had kids, and stuff like that. So for 5 years I thought that I must have mistaken a sign for something that wasn't really, but now she is a lot better. I typically, if I think that God wants me to do something now, I check it against the Bible to see if it matches, and if it doesn't, I discard it. I still hate my mom, but I try to be nice. Part of wishes that I hadn't told her that God told me to tell her sorry, because it got even worse after that, but on the other hand, apologizing for things you have done wrong is fairly biblical. anyways, I hope that helps.

There were a lot of times I thought that God was talking to me when in fact I was just developing schizophrenia.

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I'm sorry. I hope that you are getting help for that truly awful condition.

yes I'm seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist and taking the medicine now.

orangeness365 said:

yes I'm seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist and taking the medicine now.

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I'm glad for you.

thank you

I live in fear of developing that disorder. Autistic people like me have way higher rates of it than the general population, and my family has a history of mental disorders, although thanks to being poor which disorders exactly are uncertain

Ana the Ist said:

Thank you so much for taking this thread and your reply seriously. It seems that most would rather use this thread as a place to insult atheists or ridicule my understanding of prayer.

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I can pretty short with atheists who begin, "All you Christians who believe fairy tales..." You have always struck me as honest - even though I think you are wrong in your thinking. But you think I am, so we're more or less equal.

Also, prayer is a very misunderstood phenomenon among Christians who - it would seem - have an inside track to understanding. I'm sure non-believers (atheists, agnostics, undecideds and so on) understand it even less.

Ana the Ist said:

I was afraid no one would actually share an experience like the one i requested. It certainly didn't have to relate to marriage...i just used that example because I felt it was likely that many christians had that type of experience.

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This one is the one that seems the most 'valuable'.

Ana the Ist said:

say that you thought god sent you your third wife. You said you prayed on it and it felt "right.". Did you actually get a sign from god when you prayed? Or is the feeling that you were doing the right thing/making the right choice what you consider to be an answer to your prayer?

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I don't ask for 'signs' much, as in lightening striking the tree, or the sun stopping, or a burning bush in the back yard (or front room). I simply 'felt right' about it; but in retrospect, that was quite possibly what I wanted to hear.

Also, it is possible that my actions later were the problem...

Ana the Ist said:

You followed up that statement with another saying that you were not "doing it all properly. What exactly did you mean by that?

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I wasn't as good a husband as I might have been. I didn't cheat on her or beat her, but my attitude was less than enthusiastic in some regards. I probably won't answer in more detail.

Ana the Ist said:

Did you mean you weren't praying properly? That you didn't properly await an answer to your prayers? Did you misunderstand the answer god gave you?

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Possibly 'yes' to all the above. However, understand that even within God's plan, my lack of proper application can sour the results. For instance, even if God wants me to be a Dentist, I have to go to Dental school and study. It isn't like a diploma falls from Heaven.

Ana the Ist said:

I hope these questions aren't too personal, I'm certainly not trying to judge your answers. I'm interested in the differences between when you "get it right" and when you "get it wrong."

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I've been judged before. As Paul says in 1st Corinthians 4:3-4 So for me, it is a minor matter that I am judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not acquitted because of this. The one who judges me is the Lord.
My intent in answering you is to tell you and all, Christians are not perfect. We are learning to be who God wants us to be in the way God wants us to be. At least the magic 'good guy' fairy didn't hit me with the magic wand.

I rather expect most of my fellow Christians were missed as well.

For those who don't believe God 'talks', I know God has 'talked' to me. Not in the Charlton Heston Movie fashion, but in the rather quiet way that can be mistaken for 'talking to myself'. God has revealed several things to me in that regard; just not about women. (Perhaps I don't listen to Him when He tells me about woman anyway.)

Changing the subject slightly. I find God always answers my prayers for either 'help' or 'stuff' in one of three ways:

"Yes". This is the least frequent answer I get, but sometimes, I get exactly that for which I ask. Sometimes, it seems like - later - it really isn't what I wanted or even should have wanted, but mostly it is. Sometimes it seems like I asked for the wrong thing, but later it turns out right. Again, least frequent response.

"No". A flat 'No' or 'Absolutely NOT!' is probably the second least frequent answer. Quite often those requests involve super-powers, vast amounts of money and I never got the 1964 1/2 Mustang when they came out in 1964 1/2. (I was 14 at the time.) (By the way, when I pray to win the lottery and some XX gazillion dollars, the main answer has been, "If I didn't know you would turn to instant muck with that much money, I'd let you.")

The commonest answer from God is "Hang on; I have a better idea." God takes cares of the needs which I present to Him, and those where I depend on Him. He doesn't always answer those prayers or furnish those issues exactly as I ask, or on the same time table I expect - which is usually 'now or perhaps yesterday' - but I can see that God did in fact take care of the issue with which I was concerned. I don't always get a steak dinner when I want one; sometimes I get salad. But the fact is, I need salad sometimes, and I do get steak often enough.

These represent the answers I get. Your mileage may vary. The secretariat will disavow all knowledge. Never draw to an inside straight.