Troma

I have a question to any theist's or ex theist's out there. What are these personal experiences like that tell you or told you there is/was such a thing as a God?

Btw, I realize this may be an inapropriate question to ask being kinda personal and all, but I'm really curious about this.

Corgan Sow

Uh, I'm an ex-Christian, and I DID experience some miracles which convinced me there was a God.

First, when I was 14 years old, I went to a friend's Christian picnic. They were praying and I was praying in my own religion (BTW, I was Buddhist at that time). Then, a lightning struck and it was very loud! The skies were reasonably clear and that lightning came only once. I was afraid and then professed my faith to jesus.

Secondly, I was in a church prayer service. This guest pastor prayed to me and I fell, slamming my head on the wall. You know it is called "slain by the Holy Spirit", right? I fell hard, yet felt no pain. I realized that fall was caused by my conciousness went into hallusionary state. And that picnic incident isn't really some miracle. These miracles got stuck to me even after I renounced my faith. I guess I can leave it then thanks to skepticism by science.

sakrilege

I was raised catholic and when I received first communion I 'felt' the presence of jesus (all the propaganda worked). Nowadays I realize I can evoke the same feeling of elation & connectedness with my dogs.

Susan

Evil Milkman

Music. It's a very intense hypnotic tool. You can "feel" anything if you are in a music trance.

jdawg2

exactly. Everytime I hear a beautiful string section on a song, I'm moved to tears. Or maybe it's actually the presence of gawd?

Nah.

Ojuice5001

Music has been an important catalyst to my theistic experiences--it is no coincidence that I discovered music in 1996. the year I abandoned both Christianity and atheism. These experiences fit quite well with the Roman pantheon, especially Postverta of the Past.

And it doesn't even have to be the kind of music that you normally associate with spiritual experiences. The music that evokes spiritual experiences in me is pop and rock music--groups like the All Saints, the Sneaker Pimps, Tantric, Pink, Crush, Madonna, and the Talking Heads. Pop music owes nothing to Christianity or to atheism, with the result that the strongest Christians and atheists don't like it. But it is very compatible with the Roman pantheon, and I can see it playing a part in Jupiter's reconquest of a realm for himself.

[ September 22, 2002: Message edited by: Ojuice5001 ]</p>

Straight Hate

Only two incidents come to mind, but both being the same thing: my cat went missing for a week, and each time I prayed for him to come back, he showed up the next morning. A simple act of neutering seemed to fix the problem.

I cannot recall any other reason for ever believing except the fact that I was told to believe.

[ September 22, 2002: Message edited by: Kathall ]</p>

Starboy

I am not a theist nor have I ever been, but on several occasions I have found myself in a church and conducted an experiment by blaspheming god and inviting him to strike me down, convert me, burn a bush, whatever. Nothing ever happens, not a damn thing. My religious friends have ask me to stop doing this, but I tell them that this is experimental evidence that god wants me to be an atheist. I do this whenever someone drags me to a church. Funny, they have stopped dragging me to church. Oh well.

Starboy

Veil of Fire

Yeah, sure, like I don't subject myself to ENOUGH ridicule just by being here, so I'm going to list all my spiritual epiphinical experiences for the 'debunking' pleasure of the skeptics. Suuuuure.

galiel

"Epiphinical" - is that a finicky epiphany?