Question (kinda personal, so I totally understand if you don't answer): are you and Cat thinking about children?
Some of us Christians like to think that the ability to have a personal relationship with God is one of our faith's strengths. We might not have 'casual conversations' with Him, but that idea is at least manifested in the concept of prayer- that we can approach God directly without having to go through an intermediary AND the flip side- that God is individually interested and concerned about each and every person. The whole rending of the Temple veil thing, as it were. Some of us also like to think that God is not constrained to communicating with or working through anyone- their beliefs are irrelevant to Him if He is working toward a goal. So if your pagan friend believes he's been communing with the Judeo-Christian God, who am I to say he isn't?
1) Yes 2) Communing? Sure, I can handle communing. I do communing. But that's different from 'yeah, so I had a conversation with Divinity X, and they told me XYZ'. That's something entirely different.
"So, I was talking with a Buddhist the other day, and he said something that confused me, so I asked Buddha to clarify for me, and Buddha said ---"
See, when you explain your connection to God, it makes sense. Impulse, emotions, a strong sense of something, the sense of a presence. This meshes well with what I've experienced and what feels 'right'.
As for the connection between faiths, I can see that in a way. Saints = Enshrined People in Shinto, Fortunes = Angels, Gods = Archangels, Omikami = God. I can easily accept this.
Your encounter with a demon also fits well with how I understand things. And that's just -- your experiences mesh with mine - terrifying, or awe-inspiring, depending on the encounter.
But see, this is significantly different from someone who says, "Yea, I just had a conversation with God, and he's told me *this* and *that*."
Yeah, see... that niggling little bit of questioning doubt you have when people say those things about religious experienced? I feel that pretty much anytime anyone gets into such talk about religion/supernatural forces. I want to be accepting and if not believe myself then at least not shut them out dismissively out of hand.
Yet the closest thing I've had to proof (in a personal, not objective and verifiable sense) of any "higher power" would be a couple incidents in my life I could point to and say "well, I had a prayer answered." And considering those situations involved me winning raffles, I find in retrospect that I can't rule out coincidence and I find it easier to believe I managed to shape those outcomes by will than God answered my request. Increasingly, I've come to realize the thought that a divinity would go out of their way to influence my life in a way that is so petty and ultimately meaningless is downright disturbing. So I've become far more a skeptic than a believer
( ... )
I really believe that God answered a prayer I made once- months after I made it and totally forgotten that I had made it. It was a bigtime 'whoa' moment. I started going to church with a co-worker and eventually became baptized because of that prayer. I consider myself very, very fortunate for that experience- there's tons of Christians who go their whole lives without experiencing anything that definitive.
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Some of us Christians like to think that the ability to have a personal relationship with God is one of our faith's strengths. We might not have 'casual conversations' with Him, but that idea is at least manifested in the concept of prayer- that we can approach God directly without having to go through an intermediary AND the flip side- that God is individually interested and concerned about each and every person. The whole rending of the Temple veil thing, as it were. Some of us also like to think that God is not constrained to communicating with or working through anyone- their beliefs are irrelevant to Him if He is working toward a goal. So if your pagan friend believes he's been communing with the Judeo-Christian God, who am I to say he isn't?
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2) Communing? Sure, I can handle communing. I do communing. But that's different from 'yeah, so I had a conversation with Divinity X, and they told me XYZ'. That's something entirely different.
"So, I was talking with a Buddhist the other day, and he said something that confused me, so I asked Buddha to clarify for me, and Buddha said ---"
That... I have trouble accepting.
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2) Joan of Arc is disappoint =P
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As for the connection between faiths, I can see that in a way. Saints = Enshrined People in Shinto, Fortunes = Angels, Gods = Archangels, Omikami = God. I can easily accept this.
Your encounter with a demon also fits well with how I understand things. And that's just -- your experiences mesh with mine - terrifying, or awe-inspiring, depending on the encounter.
But see, this is significantly different from someone who says, "Yea, I just had a conversation with God, and he's told me *this* and *that*."
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Yet the closest thing I've had to proof (in a personal, not objective and verifiable sense) of any "higher power" would be a couple incidents in my life I could point to and say "well, I had a prayer answered." And considering those situations involved me winning raffles, I find in retrospect that I can't rule out coincidence and I find it easier to believe I managed to shape those outcomes by will than God answered my request. Increasingly, I've come to realize the thought that a divinity would go out of their way to influence my life in a way that is so petty and ultimately meaningless is downright disturbing. So I've become far more a skeptic than a believer ( ... )
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Point being: individual results may vary.
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