/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

>>563841

Not sure what's up with that for you, but God certainly isn't silent. You can talk to Him like a friend, and He does listen to your prayers. You can hear His voice and you can see what He shows you (can't see Him clearly, but that's a given because of scripture), and in addition to all that, you can read about Him.

Pray and read more, and ask God to reveal Himself to you! We worship the True and Living God, not some dead idol carved by human hands.

>>563844

>You can hear His voice

I don't? I mean I want to hear it with my ears not inside my mind, it may be me talking to myself

>>563841

>Why he is speaking to us through a book if he is everywhere at any moment?

Sometimes it's nice to have a nice book to read.

>Why I can't talk with god like I would do with a friend?

You can. You just choose not to.

>How can he listen to prayers but not answering them?

He's always listening and always answers. It's just not always the answer you want.

>We can't hear his voice

Yes we can.

>We can't see him

Yes we can.

I think maybe you need to reexamine your relationship with Him. He's not a magic wish-granting genie. You are here for one purpose and one purpose only: to praise Him and spread His message. Everything else is gravy. If you're not praising Him and spreading His message, then why should He speak to you? Go do your job, fisherman.

>>563848

>Yes we can

Where you can see him? The disciples were able to see Jesus's miracles with their very eyes, there were no "mysterious" ways

>>563850

>Where you can see him?

Everywhere I look. Open yourself up to Him and He will be right there. Take one step toward Him and He takes 3 toward you.

>>563846

You'll learn to discern the voice of God in yourself, as it is crystal clear to me, and sometimes (though this seems to be rarer) He'll physically talk to you, or call you to listen to Him.

But go and practice the faith, open your heart, and align your will to His, and love from your soul. God bless.

>>563856

I've done many tests in the real world, for example I used to ask small rocks on the ground if god is real and he is Jesus then jump once for me

None of those objects ever obeyed my word even when it was just for the sake of my faith, never

I told god very often I would serve him forever if I just had a small proof of his existence and I mean a real proof, like a lightning just next to me

>>563848

>nice book

I hope you are using the century old definition of Nice, as a Mythology Christianity is pretty dull compared to the shit demons come up with with their pagan religions, and as law is basically "everything you like is bad, stop doing it OR ELSE"

It is quite lame actually.THIS is why I believe it is real, because reality is dull and normal.

>>563864

You're asking for what you want. What does God want from you? Go witness the miracle of the Eucharist if you want a sign. Go pray for someone and see the results if you want another. Go and serve God and be filled with the joy of life in Christ for the ultimate one.

>>563867

>What does God want from you?

To believe and praise him? Then why he denies evidence from me

>Go witness the miracle of the Eucharist if you want a sign

But it remains bread man cammon

>>563864

You're not here to test God. He's not a magic wish-granting genie. Stop testing Him and do His bidding: praise Him and spread His word. Your very existence is all the proof you should need.

>>563870

>He's not a magic wish-granting genie

But Jesus did actual miracles and told us to do the same in Matthew 10:8, I should raise the dead if I ask it in his name according to Jesus then why he can't move a rock for me

>>563871

>why he can't move a rock for me

Laws of physics.

God made them.

And He made rocks adhere to them.

>>563869

First of all, it does not remain bread, if you're in a state where you can, go and take the Eucharist.

Second (I am aware I've reversed the order), read the Summa Theologiae if you want logical evidence for God, go meditate and pray if you want to experience God, and serve Him no matter if a miracle is done or not.

I hate to say this but it seems as if you are of little faith, pray about that.

>>563875

>implying the universe doesn't just follow one incredibly simple rule

Look at this nerd.

>>563875

>>563876

What does Matthew 10:8 mean then and why it doesn't happen

>>563871

Look outside yourself for a moment and look at how absurd thing to ask this is.

God knows you as well everyone else, and made everything that is. His very Spirit sustains you and all existence. Only by virtue of His presence do we continue to live. Nothing escapes His notice. Ever.

From the moment you were born, you've sinned endlessly (and so have we all, for that matter). By all rights, as God told Adam in the garden, we deserve to die. But in His infinite mercy, God allows us to exist. Even when we abuse the temple of the Spirit (our body) and ignore Him entirely, he grants us life because He is love itself.

Throughout history, humanity has demanded signs from God. The Israelites, despite all the multitude of signs they were given, still turned away from God to follow the devil. God gave them everything, even Himself. But as Christ said, faith based on signs is weak. True faith isn't based on demands or signs.

The Lord humbled Himself from infinity into the finite, taking on flesh and becoming human, all to allow us sinful men to enter Heaven as sons of God through the grace of His Holy Spirit. There are 4 accounts of His life on Earth with multiple historical accounts proving their authenticity, a host of prophecies and histories that tell of His activities before His Incarnation, letters written in the Holy Spirit by the Apostles, and countless accounts of wonders preformed by saints through history since in the name of God. How can you possibly need more?

>>563885

To me, it does happen, especially healing the sick, I've seen this many times during my life. I have only heard of the dead being raised once (third-hand story, now fourth as I mention it to you, so take it with a grain of salt). Driving out demons also happens tons, I've seen it (and the results on the person afterwards) and heard of it many times.

It means exactly what it says, and this is what a Christian is meant to do, it's just that many do not walk with God (first with faith) enough for them to enact positive change on the world. Sad days.

>>563841

God does speak to people. Audibly, mind you. No alternate consciousness bullshit. You're just not lucky enough. Neither am I.

>be this guy

>get caught in a building on fire

>fall to the ground and start smothering to death

>God takes time out of his day to literally speak to you and tell you to get up.

>Lose one ear and suffer severe burns, but go around telling groups of schoolchildren how you heard from 'this guy' due to PC bullshit.

Why God do this for you or me? Perhaps he knows that we are atheist-niggers who seek miracle gibs from his loins. People shall ask for a sign, and no sign shall be given except for the sign of Jonah.

>>563841

If you want to hear the voice of God, read the bible.

ITT: schizophrenia

Well OP, let me share my story with you.

I was laid up in a hospital after a horrible head injury. I'm not sure if it was just a hallucination, but I felt a warmth come over me and a sense of bliss and grace that words cannot describe. Then I heard the words spoken to me "I will never leave you" and I started crying. It was a weird amalgamation of love, shame, sorrow, etc. I didn't "see" God; the only thing I saw was a blinding light. But after that day I felt.. changed. I was in some dark times afterwards during my recovery, but nothing as bad as that day that led me to the hospital.

And it seems now, every time I sin my anxiety goes up and I get a panic attack.

Occam's razor would suggest it was a trauma-induced hallucination, but I don't want it to be that.

>>563905

This is actually pretty common, the scientific community believes it's the subconcious taking control of the conscious mind during a fight or flight situation. What's interesting is when someone is in that mode you can literally control them with a single word. Hypnotists use it all the time, they'll jolt their hand in the person's face and whisper "sleep"; suggestive individuals will fall asleep. Likewise if they said "jump" they'd jump. Essentially the brain will assume the command originated in the subconscious and then perform it. Human consciousness is peculiar

>>563939

That's definitely possible.

Anyway, OP, the bible itself says not to test God. Just, relax, enjoy your life, be a good person, God will reveal himself to you when he's ready.

>>563945

By the way, it's worth mentioning prior to my head injury I was a much more wicked and sinful individual than I am now.

The injury definitely… affected me. The strange thing is it's not the first time I've faced death. It was just the first time I didn't laugh at the thought.

>>563939

> Why doesn’t God talk to us?

> But God talked to me

> You must have schizophrenia, God doesn’t talk to us

🤔

Dogma: God is absolutely simple.

God is so perfectly efficient that he does the minimum everything that is require to achieve his goal. To us this can feel like silence but God knows that we don't need any more than what we have been given to come to and stay in the faith.

I actually heard God talking to me

Literally

It was at the same time super comforting and terryfying

I can understand why He doesn't do that often

>>564184

I've had that happen, too

He told me to go to somebody when I was praying about this strange urge I was having to go speak to this person to make amends for my past wrongs

When I got to them I found out they were going to commit suicide and my talking to them stopped them

>>564187

Tulpas are demons and magic is satanic

God became flesh and lived among us. That's what our entire creed is based upon. There is verifiable historical evidence for this. God has said that the next time He comes in the same manner will be to judge the world. This is why He hasn't returned and loved among us again. After the world has been judged, He promises to fulfill the promise He had made multiple times throughout the Bible - that He shall dwell with us, and we will be His people, and He will be our God.

To expect God to speak to you as another person speaks to you is to deny His sovereignty. It's like saying "hey, I won't believe the big bang happened until I personally see it." Beliefs should be based on logic and reason. A creation without God is illogical. Your perception of an idea should not be based upon a strawman, it should be based on how rational the idea is, and on the evidence that surrounds it. The Bible, the method by which we come to understand God's desires, does not state that God will micromanage the world, and be a chatbox to everyone.

However, God does speak to people. Look up the dreams and visions of people on the middle east regarding Christ, for example. Many people in many different places have claimed to have made contact with God.

because niggers are loud

>>563841

Do you know why you can't hear Him ? Because you're all over yourself and the world has become an unsettling, loud and nerve-wrecking place.

The living God is the God of silence - and you need to be silent, not only as per "not saying anything", but your heart.

Now how to achieve that ? Consensus is that you need to learn to listen with your heart and soul through prayer and meditation - contemplative prayer, that is. And through asking.

A book on exactly this matter: The Power of Silence *Robert Cardinal Sarah (It is /very/ good and you should definitely give it a try)

>>564187

Also tulpas is self-induced schizophrenia "at best" and letting a demon "live" in your head consciously and on purpose, which is serious occultism and satanism, at worst.

DON'T DO IT.

This seems like a good thread to post this in.

Something, possibly God, is constantly giving me yes or no answers. The left side of my body twitches for yes, the right side for no. It reads my thoughts, and only tells me if I am correct or incorrect after I come up with my own conclusions. I was worried that it might be a demon, but I asked here and people told me that demons can't read your thoughts.

What do you guys think? Also, maybe give it a try for yourself.

I have heard God's words a number of times. I have Bipolar, and I tried to walk 120 miles to see my ex girlfriend again.

I vividly remember hearing the words "Sounds like love." I had never considered that I might actually had loved her before that.

some of you might say it was because of my mental illness, but I don't hear voices, I just have mood swings.

>>564246

Personally, I think that claim that demon's can't read someone's mind is dubious. The scriptures that are cited to support it are often referring to God's omniscience. They say that God alone can know what's in every person's mind. This doesn't necessarily mean that a demon cannot ascertain what is in a given person's mind.

Look at the reasoning here. You'll see that it's not very string.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Satan-read-minds.html

>>564258

>not very *strong

>>564246

This is extremely dangerous. Demons may not be able to 'read your thoughts' in the way God can, but we do know that they can strongly influence them and are extremely intelligent. Think about it for a second – if they can tempt you into sinning by enflaming the passions, is it a very great leap for them to pull you into spiritual delusion by giving you mild muscle spasms? I strongly encourage you to ignore this and focus on prayer alone.

>>564258

>>564260

I hear you. I don't want to be listening to anything that isn't God.

However, it has told me in the past to forgive people, and when I ask it questions about what will happen in the future, it's been correct. And it is always, always with me. I guess I won't get a concrete answer, but I won't listen to it if it tells me to do evil.

>>564266

>It doesn't tell me to do evil

Here's a good account for you that I think could give you some insight.

The life of St. Nikita of Petchersk provides a good illustration of a demonic type of clairvoyance and use of Scriptures. St. Nikita entered the life of reclusion contrary to the orders of his abbot, who told him he was not mature enough for this labor. After some time in reclusion, he began to hear another voice praying with him and to smell a pleasant fragrance. He reasoned with himself that if this were not an angel, he would not be praying with him. He begged the angel to reveal himself. A voice replied that he could not appear lest Nikita fall into delusion. But Nikita, already a captive, replied that he would never be deluded because his abbot had warned him about delusions. The voice answered that it would send an angel to be with him. When the «angel» appeared Nikita fell down and worshipped him. The angel told him to stop praying and to read books instead and the angel would pray unceasingly for him. Soon, Nikita began to prophesy and talk about the Holy Scripture to all who came to him and he became quite famous. Actually, his «prophecies» were never about future events but about where stolen goods could be found, or about events happening far off. His knowledge of the Scriptures was entirely limited to the Old Testament which he knew by heart. He could not bear the New Testament and would not allow anyone to mention anything from it in his presence. These peculiar symptoms indicated to his brethren in the Petchersk Lavra that he had fallen into prelest. There were many holy monks with spiritual gifts in the monastery at the time and they drove the demon from Nikita by their prayers. After this was done, they questioned him and found that he no longer knew anything at all about the Old Testament, and in fact had forgotten how to read. He only learned to read again through great effort and eventually attained great sanctity through a humble life among the brethren.

There's more stories like this here. I would give it a read.

http://oprelesti.ru/index.php/what-is-spiritual-delusion/256-spiritual-discernment-in-the-orthodox-tradition