But I did pray in his name. Most would take offense at your presumption to know otherwise.
Appologies, essentially my statement was just that if you pray in Jesus's name to the Father, you would be assured anything you experience would be from Him. There seemed confusing regarding whether it couldn't be some other spririt influencing you.
I say with complete certainty that I prayed selflessly and honestly in Christ's name for many years. I took many a step in faith and found the results no more rewarding than random chances.
But isn't that what its all about ? You could either see acts as random or of importance. You essentially believed that prayed had no effect.
I've never even known anybody with a story that required a supernatural explanation. I've heard lots of stories where people prayed for things and they happened, but they were results with a finite probability of occurring anyway.
But any experiences can be brought down to random probability. The scheptic will always doubdt, the faithfull will always believe.
My faith in Christ was about the only thing that mattered to me, and my loss thereof was devastating for a time. You have no clue how devoted I was....
I can well believe Zephyr. Not to sound belittleing, but there are many devoted Jews, Muslems, Hindu's. I can even find Christian churches where they have very devoted believers, but their message is very different from another Christian church. That God does not show himself to Liberal Churches for instance, surprises me little. That God will not show himself to a church, who's pastor has relations with members of the congregation, also doesn't surprise me.
Remember, many will cry 'Lord, lord', but will not be saved. Not insinuating that was your church, but just something to think about.
What kind of experience are you talking about? I can't speculate how I would respond, let alone how others would react, without an example. The still small voice (which it seems is an invention of the mind) is one thing. How about the voice actually giving me information I could not have known, but later verified? How about a hand writing on the wall? A chariot in the sky? I might respond differently to each of these things. The thing is, the only one I have heard is the supposed voice answering my questions, and in every case the voice said things that fit within my preexisting knowledge of scripture and the way I had been taught to interpret it.
I hear what you are saying. Personally , I refused to 'talk in tongues' or 'believe so hard in God that I could manifest Him', or anything I believe was my own doing. In many ways I could be considered a sceptic Christian, well atleast sceptic of churches. I have also gone to the front of a church and the pastor said 'May the Holy Spirit enter your body etc'. While completely welcoming God's spirit, I couldn't make myself believe anything that wasn't there.
But that is not why we are Christians. Lemme put it this way. You have lost your faith. You choose not to believe in Christ because when you completely believed in Him, it seems He did not show you miracles. But your faith it seems was based on 'deeds' of God, not his Word. Because if He did allow you to prophesize or give you some 'supernatural' sign EG: writing on wall, you would still be a Christian. Do you not think the fact that you would lose faith , if he didn't perform any of these 'acts', could be the reason He didn't perform any of these acts ?
Firstly I dont see God providing you with any 'acts' you would be able to prove to anyone else. Just my opinion. Secondly if you did experience any of these 'signs', lets say.. a clear dream/vision , would anyone believe you ? Everyone would tell you that its all in your mind surely. Afterall people that do claim to experience visions are often in a padded cell.
I have a near-photographic memory back to about age 3. You're asking the wrong guy about the fallibility of his recall. The decline and fall of my faith was a drawn-out and painful experience, which I remember in great detail. In the course of it, I invoked every possible incident of his intervention in my life, in order to convince myself that it was real. But I was wrong.
I dont doubdt that you wouldn't remember any experiences with God, just that as time goes by, it seems easy to convince ourselves about what could have happened, didn't happen. A patient in hospital could see Jesus, have a conversation with Him, but 5 years after his recovery, with everyone telling him that it must have been medication, it is often difficult to keep believing.
Even Jesus's desciple's struggled to believe Jesus could rise from the grave.
Not that it matters, but no. It means he would have given me one more reason to believe. I think it's ludicrous to suggest, as some do, that the less reason you have for believing (and therefore the greater faith) the more you will be rewarded for doing so anyway. By that rationale, I should pick the most ridiculous beliefs possible to elevate my own virtue.
I dont agree with 'less reason to believe'. I do agree with 'greater belief' = greater rewards, however this is just my own opinion. I have known some moderate Christian's that have had very strong experiences that have litterally changed their lives overnight, and I've known some Christians that have spent a great deal of time worshipping, but yet to experience anything similar. Either way, my own opinion is that God tends not to 'bolster' someone's belief based on deeds. Atleast not too often.
In the past, I would have said "yes," both because I'm an unrepentant smartass and because both were true. That means I considered both a valid basis for faith - after all, even if one is expected to believe without seeing miracles, the miracle of the resurrection was central to Christianity, and the Twelve were convinced by both miracles and Jesus' person.
Christ was required to perform miracles. Claiming to be the Messiah is not an easy job. In just the same way early Christians HAD to have had strong influences from the Holy Spirit to endure the persecution.
If you go by the assumption that today we live in a completely amoral society and that we should adhere much more stringently to God's laws and commandments, would it still surprise you that God does not show Himself more freely ? Just that I cant see God making a prophet out of a 'devout' Christian believing Christ died for his sins and thus its ok to have pre marital sex ect... Not saying you're like that at all, just trying to see if you agree that there are many "Christians" that God just couldn't show Himself to.
cheers
z
™ Version 4.2