Deconversion experiences

God isn't going to appear before you and slap you in the face Meldinoor. Your relationship will always be based on faith. Even the most obvious "God" experiences retains the element of faith.
"Was that God or was that coincidence?" Its always a choice you will have to make.I think if you would just choose to trust him, read and study his word every day to understand how he thinks and operates, your faith would grow to the point where you would just "know"
beyond a doubt that it is the true and living God that you see at work in your life.Respectfully,
ICEdited by ICDESIGN, : No reason given.

So then that is why the divorce rate among conservative Christians is higher than in the general population? And the divorce rate among atheists is lower?Thank you for sullying the loving sentiment of cavediver's post with crass proselytizing. Interjecting assertions about the Biblical record where it was in no way under discussion.

Why should "the most obvious God experiences" be indistinguishable from coincidence?The same cannot be said of most real entities. The evidence for tigers or mustard or bicycles cannot so be dismissed; yet you seem to take it for granted that the supreme author and ruler of the universe should at best never be distinguishable from a meaningless fortuitous concurrence of events.Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.

LOL! So did Frodo.

......your laughter is much louder than you could possibly imagine......

Care to start a thread? Start with maybe 10. I think we could have fun with this.

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Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts

Hi ICDESIGN, Agreed. But isn't this a Catch 22? Before I can trust God, I have to have at least a fairly high level of confidence that He exists. But, according to you, in order to have that confidence I must already trust Him.Which comes first? The chicken or the egg? The belief in God's existence, or trust in Him? And if either one must be gained before the other, how does one go about gaining either of them?Respectfully,-MeldinoorEdited by Meldinoor, : Added a more relevant subtitle

Or was it Satan? Or Xenu? Or muses? Or your dead grandma giving you a sign?When you don't know something, does it really make sense to decide you actually DO know-- that the answer is "goddidit"?It sounds to me like a recipe for garden variety confirmation bias... kind of like when Mormons tell you to read the Book of Mormon and pray to God to know if it's true or not. If you feel something (like a "burning in the bosom"), then that is supposed to be interpreted as "proof " from God that the wacky Mormon religion is "the truth". --And if you don't feel anything, you are told to read more and pray harder! I think this method "works" for too many conflicting beliefs to actually be evidence for anything supernatural including the god that you believe in.Edited by articulett, : No reason given.Edited by articulett, : still trying to get the hang of formatting

OK, that did it! I now have an avatar.Circa 1968 head-shop issue button. The common fundamentalist proselytizing catch-phrase at the time was "Jesus gave his life for you".

That is just beyond cool.Oops, gotta go now, seems there is some police Sargent knocking at the door named officer Moose trying to serve me with a Cease and Desist warrant.Edited by anglagard, : forgot to close the qs

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The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any culture, because it seeks to turn other ideas - uncertainty, progress, change - into crimes.
Salman RushdieThis rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It’s us. Only us. - the character Rorschach in Watchmen

Meldinoor, there is an open thread which covers the prophet Ezekiel's predictions. Perhaps this thread could be moved by an admin to the Great Debate. Message 1 could become the OP for our debate.This would avoid duplicating material already posted. It would also afford us both the opportunity to debate arguments already posted and to interject new points pertaining to our respective positions.As an opener, my focus in our debate would pertain more to the Ezekiel prophecy and corroborating prophecies of other prophets than on the Lebanon. The Lebanon issue would, nevertheless not be off the table. Edited by Buzsaw, : Gramatical error.

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BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The Immeasurable Present Eternally Extends the Infinite Past And Infinitely Consumes The Eternal Future.
Time Relates To What Is Temperal. What Is Eternal Is Timeless.

Therein lies your problem. Your confidence. The problem isn't a lack of evidence. The world is full of hard evidence that God exists. Even the heavens declare his existence. You are standing there looking at the design claiming it only "appears" to be design. He answers a prayer in your life and you claim it only "appears" like he answered my prayer.Its a choice Meldinoor. No matter what you choose to believe, its going to be by faith. No matter what evidence is provided to you there will always be a way to explain it away if you choose to do so.Can you really have a design without a designer? Which choice takes the greater faith?IC

Orly so why has not the science community found any ?Edited by frako, : No reason given.

Of course you can. But that has nothing to do with any deconversion experiences.The issue is whether there is any disadvantage to an experience such as Meldinoor went through?

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Since you have refused to back up this comment with a thread. I suppose it would be silly to expect you to back this up too. You are really good at making big statements. Woefully lacking with any evidence to back them though.ABECan you stay on topic and move these to an appropriate thread? Or are you just hear to proselytize? Let me give you some advice. You are not going to win any converts here.Edited by Theodoric, : No reason given.

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Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts