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this american woman asked the god for a sign to the correct path
she asked the god from her heart because she was in unstable status
and Allah gave her the sign the next day early morning when she went to her university
somthing rare happend
it is enough to watch the last minute in part1 and the first minute in part2
The condensed version that just happened. A few months ago, I was lying in bed and felt someone slip a ring on my right-hand ring finger. Today I received that ring.
Again I always have to refrain when anyone suggests people like me have gone about recognizing the existence of a god in the wrong way. As if they know the first thing about my efforts along those lines over the course of my 65+ years now. Especially when it's suggested that we must use our "intelligence, logic and research" to be successful. At the same time religious people are always insulted when it's suggested they believe what they do because of a lack of intelligence, logic and research (among other things).
I'm no different.
That's perfectly with me if someone tells me that "I am religious and that automatically means I've a lack of intelligence, logic, and research".
But this was the way it worked for me.
God may appear in your closet and turn that glass of water on your table into wine?
Well .... this will surely throw off all logic, intelligence and research out of the window if you took it as a sign and become a believer, IMO.
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!
There is a class of chemicals known as "entheogens." You could start there. But have some Thorazine handy.
That's quite a story indeed. Not sure what to make of it, but you make me wonder if going to a psychic is another one of those "methods" to connect with whatever else there might be to connect with. We've got a few around here, and I'm always a little curious what would come of meeting with one of them. I always assume that if nothing extraordinary occurred, I would be blamed for some sort of emotional shortcoming on my part. So there's that, but what if something extraordinary did occur? After reading your story, I'm seriously leaning toward giving it a go.
What do the Christians posting in this thread generally feel about psychics and fortune tellers?
Think so? It sure didn't feel that way at the time! Back then, had we been standing in front of each other, and you asked me if I believed God existed, you would have seen me shrug my shoulders, eyes downcast, looking off to the side, one side of my mouth curled in like a half smile while saying, "Yeah" in a very unconvincing manner...and desperately wanting to change the subject!
That fear of "going to hell" wasn't instilled in me by the Catholic religion; it was instilled in me by my grandmother. She started talking to me about hell even before God or heaven. And since I was about 3 years old at the time, I had no concept of what "religion" was!
My grandmother passed away when I was 19 and the day she died, my FIRST thought was, "Does this mean we don't have to go to church anymore?" About a year and a half later, I moved solo across the country, wanting to get as far away from any memory I had of her. Forget about religion. I felt like I was finally 'freed' from that obligation. When I moved, it was like I mentally took God, religion, heaven, hell AND my grandmother and put them ALL into a 'box'...and shoved that box as deep down into my mind as possible. I figured I might deal with it all one day...but it would take me over a decade before I could before I could even begin...
That would have been interesting, and I probably would have welcomed your help!
I'm pretty sure I've experienced that shifting of "mental gears" before, but the experience of peace, love, joy, calm, happiness was, as Monty Python would say, "something completely different..."
That would be interesting!
A "yeah" is still a "yeah."
I can understand you giving your grandmother credit for teaching you about hell, but where do you think your grandmother learned about hell? Simple answer is religion. No matter who is doing the preaching for that religion or to whom.
I certainly can't know what you have felt to be "something completely different" as compared to what I have felt, but I do tend to give emphasis to how we are all made of the same stuff, with blood flowing through all our veins. All emotions flowing in much the same way. All of us with brains channeling all our feelings and making of our experiences what it will. No two people in the same way. I also know how some people can be far more emotional than others. Whether in somewhat of a normal fashion or range or abnormal. To all various degrees more or less. For all variety of different reasons. I have also come to appreciate how varied an assessment or interpretation people will apply toward what experiences they have had. Emotional or otherwise. None of us can know whether we are experiencing something completely within the range of normal human experience or something beyond. We can only guess. I guess most of us who guess beyond the normal range of human experience guess wrong.
I was/am a big Monty Python fan by the way. Are you sure their use of the catch phrase "And Now for Something Completely Different" has anything to do with what you explain you have experienced?
Well here's the thing.
There's this misconception that because we don't believe in god, we also write off everything that's not explained by science as woo and nonsense.
But I didn't ask for or expect any of those things to happen. But they did happen.
Almost more surprising to me was the reaction I got from everybody I talked to about the experiences at the time. As I said, even the atheists around me just basically said 'accept it for what it is' because they'd had similar experiences. Maybe if not for that I'd have just just drawn a line through it.
I'm surrounded by atheists in my family. My brother, my husband, his brother, his dad, his dads mother (passed).
My husbands Dad, lifelong atheist, - when his mother died in hospital and he was at home, apparently sat bolt upright in bed out of his sleep at the exact moment (he later found) that she died several miles away - as attested to by his wife who was awakened by it.
My brother claims to have awoken at the exact time his son was born - he was away in the North Sea at the time and says just he knew it. He also claims to be aware of his passed wife's presence around his house.
Being an atheist doesn't rule out being open minded about the possibility of let's just say 'something else'. Honestly I don't know how to reconcile things that have happened in my life that I can't explain. I certainly don't think any of them are being directed by a god. I don't believe in karma or yinyang or anything like that. But I'm not ruling out the idea that there might be forces or connections, call it what you will, that we just can't explain. I'm always saying this actually on the forum.
Do I believe in an afterlife? No. I don't believe we are all going to meet our relatives after we are dead and live a second existence in healthy middle age.
I do have to wonder though if we are more connected than we realise. I have no way of putting it into words or explaining it. I've met too many people and heard too many similar stories not to think there's 'something' but I have no idea what that 'something' is. I think as atheists we can just become cynical about absolutely everything and to me being cynical actually isn't being open minded.
You make some important distinctions by way of this comment that are helpful to further "distill" what we are actually talking about here...
You are right that just because an atheist doesn't recognize any good reason to believe in the existence of a god (God as more commonly described), this doesn't mean an atheist necessarily does not believe in the possibility of "something else." Which leaves us, or some of us, with the need to explain or define what "something else" might involve.
Personally, I find these stories difficult to reconcile with the reality we all normally accept with respect to all that goes on around us. I can't help but always feel there is an explanation that does not involve "something else" that is supernatural, spiritual or beyond the realm of our shared reality. I can't reconcile these "Believe it or not..." stories with anything that makes much sense to me. Largely because I've not experienced any such experience myself. Most atheists I have known have also not experienced anything that would cause them to believe there is "something else."
I suppose when it comes to ruling out any possibilities, there is really no way to do so, but what of these many possibilities do we rule out anyway? Why for example, as an atheist, do you rule out the possibility a god exists? When there are FAR more people who will provide you similar story to suggest one does?
All I can do is question all such experiences I have not experienced myself and find very hard to reconcile with the reality I know. How to distinguish one from the other? You tell me...
In any case, believing in "something else" does not seem too far a stretch from believing in a good many things people believe that most atheists do not. Perhaps we need a word for people who believe in "something else" who are atheists.
"[In the U.S.] 81% [of atheists] say they do not believe in God or a higher power or in a spiritual force of any kind. (Overall, 10% of American adults share this view.) At the same time, roughly one-in-five self-described atheists (18%) say they do believe in some kind of higher power." - Pew Research
I am not dismissive of "woo". I am dismissive of people who always turn to "woo". There's plenty of woo in how many people conduct themselves in Theravada Buddhism, but then there are Buddha's actual teachings which are, for the most part, very down to earth.
What has bothered me on this forum is how willing people are to fully accept their woo, but then dismiss out of hand other people's "woo-ish" experiences.
I am pretty much in agreement that just because we are atheist doesn't mean we don't think there could be 'something outside the realm of our understanding'. Maybe even 'a' god, but almost certainly not the god of the OT. Perhaps a deistic god. Perhaps something completely different. I think as atheists it's mostly that 'I don't see the evidence to support there being a god'. Not so much, 'There is absolutely no god'.
I'm sure Mink will lament that I didn't give a 'one-liner' response.
To my way of understanding and the definition of these words, I would say your comments suggest you better fit the description of an agnostic much better than atheist.
The condensed version that just happened. A few months ago, I was lying in bed and felt someone slip a ring on my right-hand ring finger. Today I received that ring.
That's perfectly with me if someone tells me that "I am religious and that automatically means I've a lack of intelligence, logic, and research".
But this was the way it worked for me.
God may appear in your closet and turn that glass of water on your table into wine?
Well .... this will surely throw off all logic, intelligence and research out of the window if you took it as a sign and become a believer, IMO.
Just saying there are other ways and/or reasons that explain what people come to believe is all...
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