Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Truth be told, I first started this thread in the Atheism and Agnosticism thread, by accident. I quickly realized that I would be far more likely to get what I was hoping for in this forum rather than in a forum of fellow atheists. So I quickly deleted it from that forum and started it here instead. Most atheists don't seem to have much in the way of these stories that they believe are "signs from God." If they did, they wouldn't be atheists I don't think.
It's funny...in your OP you mentioned that you had these experiences, or at least THOUGHT you had these experiences as a believer...but NONE as a non-believer.
I'm starting this thread to ask people what experiences they have had that they would consider a manifestation of God. Curious, because I've had some experiences I could describe as manifestations of God. Especially when I was younger and a believer, I would associate certain experiences and/or feelings as a result of God's presence. Then later in life, as I became an atheist, I no longer experienced anything I could conclude was such a manifestation or sign from God. Not for a good many decades now. Not even when I was more "inviting" of such a thing. I'll let this thread be yet another request to see if maybe I get a sign. We'll see. I'll let you know. While meanwhile, what signs have you received? Past or present? Thanks!
I wish if this is how it always worked but sorry, this is not how it works.
There may be some 0.000000000001% such cases but there are 8 Billion people - and God does not show up like up like a David Copperfield to pull a "miracle" on you as a sign.
The signs have already been provided by God - It's now our job to use our intelligence, logic and research by using our brain to inspect these signs, and see what talks to our hearts?
Always remember, the brain does the investigation part but the call to faith comes from the heart.
IMO, it starts with a very simple step.
Get up in the middle of a night, take a shower, clean yourself up and get on your knees to pray to God by simply saying,
"Oh God, if you are really out there, GUIDE me to you."
btw, did you watch this one yet?
This is NOT a proselytizing attempt, but just to let you know how the "signs" work for any faith you intend to investigate.
I teach a Bible study class for senior adults. We have a regular group of about 20 people. Years ago, a stranger showed up out of the blue and asked if he could sit in on our Bible study that night. We welcomed him and shared a meal afterwards. Never saw him again. We believe it was a fulfillment of Hebrews 13:2.
Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
It's funny...in your OP you mentioned that you had these experiences, or at least THOUGHT you had these experiences as a believer...but NONE as a non-believer.
Think there might be a 'relationship' there?
Absolutely. No question. What do YOU make of that relationship?
Wish I could stay and play, but alas I must move onto other things now. Perhaps tomorrow I'll have more a chance to catch up on this thread a bit. Unless it continues to grow faster than I have the time to keep up with...
It's funny...in your OP you mentioned that you had these experiences, or at least THOUGHT you had these experiences as a believer...but NONE as a non-believer.
Think there might be a 'relationship' there?
That is interesting. A have a number of friends and acquaintances who aren't theists and certainly aren't Christians but who report anomalous experiences that make my own seem paltry in comparison. When someone says "NOTHING like that has EVER happened to me," I am dumbfounded. I have to believe they are either sleepwalking through life or are willfully blind to such experiences.
This is what I mean by context. It's inevitable that we filter such experiences through the lens of what we already believe or prefer to believe. It's incredibly difficult to view them dispassionately, although I try and am perfectly willing to admit when coincidence genuinely seems like the best explanation.
Since I'm on a roll, I'll relate a favorite that has nothing to do with God but is damn weird:
There was a secretary at my school named Vicki with whom I seemed to have some sort of "psychic connection." One day, I mentioned that I had ordered some framed artwork on an internet site I was looking at. Vicki came over and asked "Do they have anything by Gustav Klimt?" I had never heard of old Gustav, but I did a search and brought up some prints. "Oh, 'The Kiss'!" said Vicki, looking over my shoulder. "That's my favorite painting!"
A week or so later, all the art had arrived except a humorous Victorian print of a mama cat teaching her kittens to catch mice. It finally arrived. I opened the box and pulled out a lovely framed print of "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt. WHAT? I checked the invoice, which showed the cat print. I got back online to see if I'd gone into a trance and somehow ordered the "The Kiss." I hadn't. I emailed the company and asked what was going on. They had no idea. Mistakes sometimes happen at the warehouse, so send it back. I offered it to Vicki, but it was too expensive for her so I sent it back and got my mama cat.
Vicki then died of lung cancer.
Shortly thereafter, my best friend and his wife were at our house waiting for my wife to get out of the bathroom so we could go to lunch at a historic hotel. We happened to be standing right in front of the mama cat print, so I related the above story just to kill time.
We went to lunch. Afterwards, while everyone was browsing in the gift shop, I crossed the hall to a little alcove where they sell books about Texas history. Right in the middle of the little room, sitting upright on a little table, was a shiny gold book with two words in bright red on the cover: GUSTAV KLIMT. I just about fainted and of course bought the book, which is quite an interesting history of Gustav's paintings. I have no idea what it was doing in that little shop. The proverbial "just one of those things" (JOTT), as anomalists say.
I have no clue what this was all about, or how it would be explained, but an entirely mundane explanation just doesn't seem plausible to me. Indeed, complex incidents of synchronicity - of which I have experienced several - seem to me to be among the strongest clues that reality is far stranger than the materialists suppose.
I'm going to bow out of this thread so it doesn't become "The Life of O'Darby," but I HAVE had quite a number of very odd experiences.
Glad you started this thread, LM! Like you, I'm looking forward to reading about others experiences.
My first experience happened in May 1984. I was 26, a brand new mother, and had absolutely nothing to do with the RCC or any other religion back then. Yes, I believed God existed, but that's about it.
Anyway, I had been working for a company for about a year. One day, our entire hierarchy changed. People were quitting left and right because of new upper management. In fact, we had six department heads quit on the same day. My new boss called me in to the conference room and told me she was going to give me my annual review...which I already had the previous month. At first, I was confused. But when I read the review form, I was p*ssed! It was ALL untrue! But of course, with my upbringing, I wasn't 'allowed' to show my anger. So, I proceeded to go back to my office...and have a full-blown panic attack. I went to my new manager struggling to hide my tears/anger and told her that I had to leave because I wasn't feeling well (understatement). I drove home which thankfully, was only a few blocks away.
I got in the house and crawled on the bed into the fetal position. I felt certain I was going to die. But that's not what scared me. What scared me was the possibility of me dying...and going to hell. I felt small and insignificant to God. Through my tears, I humbly asked Him, "Do you love me? Was I even allowed to ask that question of God?
I suddenly sat up, still sniffling...and felt this amazing 'warmth'. But it wasn't a physical warmth. It was as if this 'wave' of something was washing over me. I had this tremendous sense of peace...and joy...and pure LOVE. Or should I say, PURE Love. It wasn't the kind of love that's familiar to us, like romantic love or love of a child or family and friends. This was something different. It was a THOUSAND times better than any other kind of love I felt before. But that's not what got me. What got me was that there was NO FEAR. No fear of dying...no fear of losing my job, or not being able to pay my bills...It was an experience of overwhelming joy and happiness.
That 'feeling' stayed with me for four days. Of course, I went right back to my 'old' life. Oh, I DID get fired from that company a week later. They fought me on unemployment...and I WON.
Like I mentioned, it was my FIRST experience, almost 40 years ago.
But certainly wasn't the last...
This is a wonderful, intelligent, well-written compilation of experiences like yours: The Fifth Love: Exploring Accounts of the Extraordinary, [url]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IZMVA18/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o04?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/url]. It is not typical New Age fluff. I'm sure you would enjoy it.
Absolutely. No question. What do YOU make of that relationship?
Wish I could stay and play, but alas I must move onto other things now. Perhaps tomorrow I'll have more a chance to catch up on this thread a bit. Unless it continues to grow faster than I have the time to keep up with...
Cheers!
What do *I* make of it? Kind of like any other relationship. I mean, if someone USED to call me, and I USED to call them...and one day they decided not to call me anymore, SHOULD I continue to call them?
I know that some can say, "Well, if God LOVED you...." but it's not ALL about whether God loves US. WE have a part in this whole 'love' thing, too.
And I know that some say that God is supposed to love us unconditionally. So, even if we DON'T call Him, he SHOULD still call us. To me, that sounds a bit arrogant. Like an ex girlfriend who says, "Don't call me anymore!" and then out of respect, he doesn't call...
...and then she gets miffed because he doesn't call!
Truth be told, I first started this thread in the Atheism and Agnosticism thread, by accident. I quickly realized that I would be far more likely to get what I was hoping for in this forum rather than in a forum of fellow atheists. So I quickly deleted it from that forum and started it here instead. Most atheists don't seem to have much in the way of these stories that they believe are "signs from God." If they did, they wouldn't be atheists I don't think.
I think this is a wonderful thread.
I've been hoping someone would start a thread like this.
I have a request to make though of the moderators if they happen to be passing.
I wondered if there's any way a note could be added to your opening post requesting that everyone is respectful of each other in this thread, and respectful all of the stories being shared here from both theists and atheists alike.
Honestly I'd like to share my stories but a lot of them are pretty painful memories and I don't want to see them crapped all over. Neither do I like seeing ANYBODY's personal stories being crapped all over whether people believe they are true or not.
Sometimes things can seem exaggerated or outlandish but let's just accept them for what they are and disrespect is rarely helpful to discussion.
I don't think my stories are signs from god obviously. That's not to say I don't believe in intuition and I've had some pretty incredible coincidences such as other describe, so perhaps they may be useful to the thread.
As usual I'm supposed to be getting on with other things so I'll come back later.
I think this is a wonderful thread.
I've been hoping someone would start a thread like this.
I have a request to make though of the moderators if they happen to be passing.
I wondered if there's any way a note could be added to your opening post requesting that everyone is respectful of each other in this thread, and respectful all of the stories being shared here from both theists and atheists alike.
Honestly I'd like to share my stories but a lot of them are pretty painful memories and I don't want to see them crapped all over. Neither do I like seeing ANYBODY's personal stories being crapped all over whether people believe they are true or not.
Sometimes things can seem exaggerated or outlandish but let's just accept them for what they are and disrespect is rarely helpful to discussion.
I don't think my stories are signs from god obviously. That's not to say I don't believe in intuition and I've had some pretty incredible coincidences such as other describe, so perhaps they may be useful to the thread.
As usual I'm supposed to be getting on with other things so I'll come back later.
For no reason that's clear to me, I forgot all about work and drove as fast as I could
This reminded me of something that happened a few years ago.
I was on my way to work and I always stop to get breakfast at Hardee's drive-thru on the way. Always. For some reason, I didn't stop that day, and I just went in to work and sat down. About an hour later, I had an overwhelming urge to get up and go back to Hardee's. There were several other breakfast places where I could go, much closer to work, even right across the street, but it had to be Hardee's. I got there and immediately pulled in to park. Which is something I NEVER do. Even if there's a long line of cars, my butt is gonna sit in the Jeep and wait for my turn to order.
I go in and there's two huge lines, but I stand there anyway. I overhear a guy in the line next to me mumbling into his phone, "Please pick up, please pick up," and he sounded so despondent. He kept hanging up and dialing again. We get to the front of the line and I lean over and tell the cashier in front of him, "Two sausage biscuits and a large coffee for him," I pay for it, and get out of the line. I have no idea where this comes from. I normally order the fried bologna and Velveeta biscuit or a Frisco breakfast sandwich.
I touch his shoulder and tell him I got his breakfast, and when he looks at me I just nod my head towards the dining room. I get his order and bring it to him at the table, and I ask him if he's okay. He says yes and then chuckles a little when he pulls his order out of the bag and tells me it is exactly what he orders for breakfast anywhere he goes.
He's trying to get ahold of his grandson who is 12 and sick at home alone. He starts to tear up and he says his daughter died of cancer last year, and he has custody of his grandson now, and his wife had just died suddenly the day before, and he was having to do the arrangements alone, and now he was worried about his grandson.
I ask where he lives, because I could go myself and check on him, and then the phone rang and it was his grandson. He was okay, he had just been asleep and hadn't heard the phone ring. The man started crying and said okay and that he would be home in a little while, and hung up. So I got up and sat next to him and hugged him hard, and we sat there for a long time while he just sobbed, and of course I was crying too by then. He finally composes himself and he thanks me, and we walk out to the parking lot, and I had parked right next to him.
I asked him if he was gonna be okay, did I need to go look after his grandson, or should I come with him to make the arrangements? Whatever he needed, I was going to do. He said no, and then said thank you again, and I said no problem. Then he said, "No. Really. I am so glad you came here. You have no idea what I was going to do today." I hugged him again and tried to give him my phone number and he shook his head, smiled, and said he was okay now.
I can't explain any of the actions I took that morning, I only know that they happened. I came back to work without breakfast and I told my coworkers what happened and they all were shocked. I don't know what he meant by what he said, if I saved that man's life or just helped in some small way or even if I'm being dramatic, but it felt very powerful, and to this day brings me to tears remembering it. I hope that guy and his grandson are okay.
Last edited by clevergirl67; 12-07-2023 at 12:49 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Like you, I'm looking forward to reading about others experiences.