Does Religious Experience Prove God Exists?

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   Meg Moonposted 12 years ago

   Does the fact the so many people claim to have experienced God suggest that God does in fact exist?

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      pisean282311posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      @meg nope....in fact u raised very interesting question which infact proves religion is human made and so are its gods or son of god etc....
      
      the kind of experience people share is what they experience but according to faith they see or listen or feel different characters....what this shows is that brain is more powerful than we think it is and also from where believer's holy books came from...

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         Meg Moonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         So - let me understand your point... the fact that religious experiences tend to be within the experient's cultural and religious tradition that suggests that such experiences are in fact made up within that person's subconscious?

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            pisean282311posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            @meg in most times yes....

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      nightwork4posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      not in the least. i saw santa 2 weeks ago shopping, does that make him real. people still see elvis all the time. when people say they have had religious experiences, in most cases they are delusional. there is one writer on here who claims he helped in an exorcist, seriously. to me, if god was real, the world wouldn't be how it is no matter what. if he loved his children, would babies be born in pain?

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      Dave Mathewsposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Most definitely YES! God will work in the life of anyone who invites Him to do so, and as He does so, one can begin to actually develop an intimate relationship with Him.

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      jdflomposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Religious experiences have been linked to a specific gene in our bodies called "the god gene."  It gives the sensation of the mystical or spiritual experiences that are so common. There are several documentaries on this that I saw a while back, however I believe it might still be a hypothesis; but it seems fairly logical for now. I'm not claiming it's correct, but it's a valid idea.

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         Captain Redbeardposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah it's still unfounded but a hypothesis worth looking at deeper. What are the name of these documentaries? I would love to see them!

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      rave1432posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I have seen a lot in life to seen as if there is a god, but is it proof, I do not think so. They call it faith for a reason in stead of the truth. I am not a christian, I use to be one. I do not know the truth, and I do not pretend to. Faith is just a crazy thing to help keep a little order in the world. But it also causes chaos and war. But oil does too, should we worship oil? People will believe what they want to. No one can stop them from that. I just try to follow the golden rule and treat others the way I want to be treated. For all we know, no religion is true. For all we know, one is the truth.

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      AshtonFireflyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Interesting question. These experiences seem to suggest that he either exists or that he exists by suggestion. Either way, the God concept becomes real to the person doing the believing. There is incredible power in thoughts.
      In my opinion, no it doesn't prove anything to the world in general .It just proves it to the person himself. Or herself.

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      Titen-Sxullposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      No.
      
      I "experienced" what I believed was God both as a Christian and as a pantheist. These "experiences" were primarily emotional, or what I would have termed "spiritual" at the time. One included words that seemed to be imparted to me by this "God" directly. I could also speak in tongues, I had gone to a Pentecostal church which is where I picked it up but my glossolalia continued even after I stopped being a Christian. I soon realized that these experiences could be stimulated by the most mundane things, if I was listening to music, writing a story, even if I saw a particularly attractive woman, anything that involved creativity or the right kind of mental emotional stimulation could trigger my "spiritual" feelings.
      
      It was all a self-deception, the feelings were genuine but I was ascribing them to something insubstantial - an ever-shifting god concept that, at least during my time as a pantheist, seemed to change according to my mood at the time. Not evidence of God, evidence of self-delusion.

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   aka-djposted 12 years ago

   It adds up to being the same as,
   just because the unbelievers have't experienced Him, doesn't prove that He doesn't exist.
   
   But, an experience with God, for the believer, settles that question, for them, and at the end of the day, that's really all that matters.
   
   That kinda sums up the typical disagreements found on the forum though.

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      Meg Moonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I can understand that having a religious experience is proof for the experient but I guess the question I'm really interested in is - is this enough to offer a proof for those who haven't directly experienced it?

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         aka-djposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Probably not.
         
         I think it ought to be incentive for further investigation on their part, though.
         
         Meeting God "one on One" has always been His plan. Instead of arguing or debating, they should seek Him for themselves.
         Sadly, that's the last thing they want to do.

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            getitriteposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            That's a lie!  Several of us on these forums have asked you several times to lead us to your God, and you, without question, ALWAYS failed us.  We sought, but there was no God to be found. 
            
            Stop blaming us for your abject failure to lead us to your imaginary God.

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      getitriteposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Many non-believers, like myself, HAVE experienced Him, so what does that prove?  To me it proves that the believer prefers to remain delusional, while the atheist prefers to accept that there are states of psychosis...of which religious experiences definitely falls.
      
      
      
      And to the atheist it settles nothing, except that the believer is delusional.

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         aka-djposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         So, in effect, what you are saying is, you experienced DELUSION, not God.
         
         I can accept that!

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            getitriteposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            YES!  YES!  YES!
            
            Now...if YOU would just conjure an objective enough mind to conclude that all you experienced was delusion as well, you could begin the first step toward curing your psychosis.
            
            But your "objective" thinking somehow perceives yourself as "special"

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               aka-djposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               So, by your definition of delusion, 80+% of the human population is deluded.
               
               There is NO god, only delusions in the minds of the majority of humanity.
               
               Why haven't we been told this before? Wow, this changes everything.
               I suggest atheists and other rationals get together and finance a total reprogramming of humanity ASAP, and deliver the world of all us poor deluded folk.

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   Druid Dudeposted 12 years ago

   God reveals himself to those who are looking for him. Proof of God is an individual and personal proof. What I might see as proof, someone standing right next to me would see nothing out of the ordinary. Awakening is between the inner self and God, and he does do this. Once done, and the individual grows in knowledge, then you come to understand that God is everywhere, and we are part of that everywhere.

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      Druid Dudeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It's like trying to explain a color to someone who has been blind since birth. If any one should ask, that's a direct quote.

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         Captain Redbeardposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         excellent

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         Meg Moonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         This raises a related question about whether you can really have a meaningful discussion about religious experience with someone who has never had one.

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      nightwork4posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      if you really believe in anything, no matter what it is, you will witness it. for thousands of years and still today, people claimed they talked to hundreds of different gods, both male and female. in some cases these gods called for human sacrifices and in others the gods said that they would make it rain to help with crops. even when it didn't rain or when the human sacrifice didn't make a difference, people still believed these gods were real.

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   Captain Redbeardposted 12 years ago

   This is an interesting question isn't it? I mean I could say that I will tell you my story of how God proved himself to me but it is all personal. Because he is a personal God isn't he? Or do we believe he is a personal God so he is....
   
   I think it's alot like love or trust or things like this that can't be measured. My wife has no proof that I love her. All she has is my word and she takes my word and puts her faith in it. She lives by it and is secure in it. I think that it would be equally as hard for her to prove my love for her to anyone else because that love that I have for her is personalized.

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      Meg Moonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That's an excellent analogy for religious faith and one I've never heard before but I think for most people it's normal to feel doubtful or insecure about the love someone has for us- expect maybe our parents- is this the same with religious faith then? Is it normal for religious believers to sometimes doubt their god/religion? Interesting.

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         Captain Redbeardposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Absolutley! Look at the book of Psalms, I would guess that 60% or MORE start with "My God where are you? I am in need!!!" I was just having some what of the same discussion with my wife last night. I think it's interesting that Christians tend to have this "internet" mentality when it comes to God. I mean if you have a question and don't know the answer you get on line and after a few minutes or possibly hours or days of searching you find the answer and you move on. However I can say that I feel I have only heard God speak to me maybe 6 times out of the 14 years of prayer and seeking him. I don't think he is waiting on baited breathe for our attention. In the same regaurd I think about the quadrillions of people that have lived on the Earth and the maybe 700 to 1200 people that have seen him in some regaurd excluding Jesus, such as a burning bush or a pilliar of fire or such. It's interesting because the bible says he is no respecter of person. There is nothing that makes Bob have more of an edge on seeing a burning bush than Greg yet it is more likely like 99% more likey that neither of them will see the burning bush and because of this I think it is why it is easy to question your faith.

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            Captain Redbeardposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            And added to that, I mean faith is literlly nothing. It is the evidence of the things hoped for right? Hope can't be measured by numbers or science. So when faith is more like an active idea, active meaning continued prayer and confidence that God is hearing you without proof, it is so easy to doubt from time to time. Most every "Godly" man we read about in the bible went through these times of doubt. Even David, man dubbed "A man after God's own heart" Doubted. He waxed and wained in his faith. Living rightiously one moment and hiding who he was from everyone and living with the enemy of God's people for a time the next. The choice to live a life of faith is by no means an easy task.

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            getitriteposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Oh really?!  Was it Allah or Zeus?

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               Captain Redbeardposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               The flying spaghetti monster

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   Druid Dudeposted 12 years ago

   Left or right leaning political philosophies are  supposed to have a genetic connection also. Gee, maybe there's more to GENE sis than we thought.

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      Captain Redbeardposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      oh snap, this boys sling'n some pun atcha! lol

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   Jonathan Jancoposted 12 years ago

   Although I try to keep an open mind, I would say no it does not prove anything. Why would we (those who live in the mundane physical world) be able to truly differentiate between having an experience with God or Prime Creator or the Source of Creation, and having an experience with a malevolent spirit trying to deceive or trap us. Considering what I hear from most believers and most atheists as well, I would have to begrudgingly accept that the malevolent spirit is up to no good in most of these cases.

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