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Are any of you believers game here? Below are the eight methodologies in which I see believers coming to God. If you have any more, please indulge:
1) A felt thought, or intrusion, that seems not to have been your own; but from an 'external force'
2) Having an innate awareness, or a seemingly 'sixth sense'
3) Feeling(s) of intense euphoria, feeling overcome by an 'external force'
4) Actually hearing audible voices 'from God'
5) A burning in the bosom
6) Ability to all of a sudden speak in tongues, the angel's language, as the spirit takes you over
7) Receiving 'external' messages, which could only have been provided by an 'external source' of seemingly higher knowledge.
8) Answered prayer(s)
By saying that are you implying that a nonbeliever's life is a life without purpose?For me it is a desire that there be some purpose to life.
The Father never forced Jesus go to the cross. He had twelve legions of angels on standby should Jesus decide not to go through with it:You came to Jesus by reading his words. I can see the attraction. He seems like a pretty good guy, who cares about people, someone who wants to help the poor, the sick, and the needy.
I often think that Christians who say they have accepted Christ by reading the gospels seem to overlook another important figure in this relationship, his father.
Did they not also read in that same book what fate his father had in store for him? Torture and murder by crucifixion. I would be asking what kind of father would allow such a thing to happen to his son, and on reading, it was to take the punishment for the wickedness of others, alarm bell would be ringing even louder.
How on earth could anyone imagine a human sacrifice would achieve anything? That was the sort of barbarism that primitive cultures practiced in order to appease their gods...
No, either all lives have purpose or no lives have purpose. If there is a God then hopefully everything in the universe has a purpose including people who don't believe God exists.By saying that are you implying that a nonbeliever's life is a life without purpose?
If that is what you believe, then I really do wonder what I have been doing for the past 75 years.
That only gets you so far.Why not make your own purpose?
My purpose in life is my family. To receive their love and give mine in return.That only gets you so far.
Re-examine your own question in the OP:Sure, and it does not comply with the request of post #1.
(italics and underlining added)Below are the eight methodologies in which I see believers coming to God. If you have any more, please indulge
Re-examine your own question in the OP:
(italics and underlining added)
Please see post #2 for one particular instance of one of various "any more" ways.
I tried to 're-examine.' You refuse to answer the question I posed to you 7 or 8 times. Does God deem you a "sheep or a goat?"
I would hasten to wager you do not follow such implied rules. Hence, you are not really following His rules, as your test
And furthermore, what if I were to follow Confucius's rules, and they 'work' for me. Does this make him divine?
Instead of trying to guess/imagine about me differently than what I answered, might not it be more profitable for you to try to figure which of your own viewpoint assumptions is mistaken?
Far enough that I have a good rebuttal to my depression. I don't particularly care about an afterlife, but I would like to believe that my temporary existence serves some purpose greater than the purposes that human society provides (success, money, friendships, etc.). Those purposes are unattainable for me, so I search and hope for something else.How far do you want to get?
might not it be more profitable for you to try to figure which of your own viewpoint assumptions is mistaken?
I search and hope for something else.
Far enough that I have a good rebuttal to my depression. I don't particularly care about an afterlife, but I would like to believe that my temporary existence serves some purpose greater than the purposes that human society provides (success, money, friendships, etc.). Those purposes are unattainable for me, so I search and hope for something else.
Below are not hard/fast rules...
- If an afterlife does not exist, many will [value] their one known life more.
- If an afterlife does exist, many may [waste] this life away, in waiting for the next.
But as @Tinker Grey has already pointed out, all we seem to know for sure, if we are in a shared reality, is that we are in this life. We create our own meaning(s).
For many, seems as though they require a God to have any meaning...?
Does a God necessarily NEED to exist to have 'meaning'? If so, why?
Alternatively, if life has no meaning, then what?
And lastly, do we care about what is actually true, or instead what comforts?
we can reach him
How? I tried for decades, and came up blank apparently. And if I, all of a sudden, discerned that I authentically DID receive contact from God, is there any way to confirm it was the Holy Spirit, verses not?
You can notice when God does something to you, its not probably going to be vague at all in some ocassions, i'm not God to tell whats going on, i'm worried though, 'those who seek shall find'. 'all who come to me i don't reject' 'knock and i will answer' it says, 'and i will come and have dinner' dinner is not talking about literal dinner with Jesus, but more of an ocassion of something happening.
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