Reason. And buddhism, that gave me the first glimmering view of the beauty of the moment. (go figure).
Ive never been in such a situation (close to death) so maybe I have no idea what your experience was actually like but I do feel that the explanation is more to do with the complexities of the brain rather than relating to the possible existence of god. The green field with wild flowers was your mind, you were alive and your brain was thinking. The brain is held as being one of the most complex structures known to man and we have alot to learn about how it functions. I would say out-of-body or near death experiences are simply functions of the brain. This is just my opinion, of course.
The mind is truly an amazing thing. You could be right. Maybe if your body is in a bad situation, your mind could take you to a happier place.
For those of you who doubt God, consider themselves atheists, etc, I suggest reading The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel. A quick synopsis from Amazon.com: Award-winning reporter and author Lee Strobel (The Case for Christ) once again uses his investigative skills to address the primary objections to Christianity. As a former atheist, Strobel understands the rational resistance to faith. He even names the eight most convincing arguments against Christian faith: 1) If there's a loving God, why does this pain-wracked world groan under so much suffering and evil? 2) If the miracles of God contradict science, then how can any rational person believe that they're true? 3) If God is morally pure, how can he sanction the slaughter of innocent children as the Old Testament says he did? 4) If God cares about the people he created, how could he consign so many of them to an eternity of torture in hell just because they didn't believe the right things about him? 5) If Jesus is the only way to heaven, then what about the millions of people who have never heard of him? 6) If God really created the universe, why does the evidence of science compel so many to conclude that the unguided process of evolution accounts for life? 7) If God is the ultimate overseer of the church, why has it been rife with hypocrisy and brutality throughout the ages? 8) If I'm still plagued by doubts, then is it still possible to be a Christian?
One thing I always found odd is atheists almost always argue exclusively against Christianity. Its almost bizarre at times as "Christians" are only one group that believes in God. For some reason that draws me more towards christianity than any other religion. I don't follow any religion but spiritual life would never be complete for me without Jesus teachings. Atheists reject the idea of God based on intellectual conclusions. Well duhh... Spirituality is beyond the physical intellect, it is metaphysical. I have unanswered questions for God but I have some for atheists too. One being: Whats the obsession with Christians?
Speaking personally, I don't argue against any religion, though I'm an atheist. The categorical denial of God is itself a leap of faith. Please see Mormom discussion, post 75 et seq.
C.S. Lewis writes about some kind of "Rule or Law" that people, all people, just seem to know. (I am paraphrasing, I hope not too clumsily) For instance, if two people were to interact about, say, someone taking another's seat on the bus "that's my seat I was there first" or "Give me a bit of orange, I gave you a bit of mine" etc... They seem to be applying, or referring to, some kind of standard. They are, infact, not trying to show the other person wrong, so much as they are trying to show that they are right. Quarreling would be the former. They are right because they adhere, in their minds, more closely to some kind of agreement as to what is right. God shows Himself in this "agreement." In fact, as Lewis points out, this Law of Nature is not like gravity or something external like that, but rather something internal. IN fact, if you want to equate this particular Law of Nature with all the other Laws of Nature, then it is the only one we can disobey. Nor do we share this particular law with any other thing. Living or inanimate, no animal, or vegetable, nothing else. The Bible says we were all made in His image. I believe this is what Lewis refers to in his book Mere Chrisitanity which I quoted from liberally here. Also, to show Himself "to us all at once" would be to deny us the one thing He wants from us more than anything, and the one thing, by very definition He cannot demand - our Love. We are saved by Grace through Faith. Faith comes first. IT is the nature of our Lord to bless us with Free Will, without which true love, which He wants from us, cannot be had. When we choose to "disobey" that Law within us, in His image, we are denying Him. And that is blaspheme which the Bible says is the only unforgivable sin. You will no doubt, as so many other young athiests have, next ask me if this means in my opinion that anyone who does not believe in God will go to hell in unforgiveable sin. No. You may not believe in God and still obey His Law of Nature. You must first turn your back on Him, and His Law of Nature, to achieve that "unforgivable status", otherwise, as the bible says, it is the content of ones heart that will decide the outcome. You must first believe in God, truly believe in Him, then turn your back to wind up in the soup. You must ignore the "agreement" we all seem to have inside of us on how to exist with ones neighbor, and thereby HATE ones neighbor to earn the proverbial "hot seat." Muslems, Hindus, Bhuddists, and maybe even a few Christians will get there via the contents of their own hearts. God reveals Himself to me everyday and in everything I do... yes, even in those things I do which I KNOW are wrong (a whole slew of them actually, list upon request)
When you say 'atheists almost always argue exclusively against Christianity', which athiests are you talking about? Are you a Christian? Maybe they always talk about Christianity because you are Christian or you live in a country where Christianity is the number 1 religion.
Very nice and so true. In my case "this revealing" is dependent upon asking daily for it. I must keep a concious contact so to speak and my life is infinitely better. If I choose on any particular day to "do my own thing" instead of keeping contact I start noticing the difference immediately. I've been allowed to experience what I call the 4th dimension through spiritual experience(s). I've had miracles done in my life, I've experienced a hell here on earth and also been able to glimpse heaven on occasion. I know for a fact God is real and the Holy Spirit is not some spook created by Christians. Now since I finally know without a doubt we live in a spiritual world and I see Atheists almost exclusively question Christianity. That only leads me to believe that the Christ Truth is in the end the ultimate authority that they indeed question. Ergo: Atheists disbelief leads me towards the Christ Truth more and more. Its not that they don't have good intellectual arguments. In fact Atheists are usually highly intelleigent people, maybe a little too smart. Dependent wholly upon the intellect. But why doesn't he/she/it show himself to them as he has to me? Assuming God is a male figure I like this quote: God is a gentleman he doesn't go where he is not invited. (seek and ye shall find) I keep planning to read "Mere Christianity" and havn't yet.
I'm referring to the ethical atheist (see the first post in this thread), most any atheist web site, and my experience with atheists in general. It's about 90% exclusively geared towards debunking Christian belief. Is it an american site? I don't know. Am I Christian? I dunno.... It depends on your definition. Do I believe Jesus was? and was who he said he was? Absolutely... Did he ask people to be Christians? No. So if I believe in him why would I become something he never asked for? If everyone emulated Christ and were able to spiritually evolve and discover The Christ in themselves would the world be what it should be? Yes. Do I succeed in that myself? Sometimes yes...sometimes no. I'm a work in progress. I prefer progress, not perfection.
Christians are in daily conversation with our Lord everyday and on a very personal level. I've had atheists then say to me in obvious derison that they themselves are in constant touch with the fairy godmother. The problem is that such derison denies the Christian his experience and therefore, as an argument, is bankrupt. Also, what is that voice the athiest hears in his head, himself? If so - then he too, by his own definition, must be somewhat pixsillated. Or is that only when he answers Then there's those who firmly claim there is no God but believe in UFO's. Anyone here fall into that category? (I myself believe in God and aliens). I'm just saying some people I've met seem willing to believe in just about anything but God when their arguments against God's existence are the very arguments they would face for their many other beliefs. I don't know why but I encounter this time and time again.
I meet several times a week with a group of people who meet and discuss spiritual issues. These people are of any religion, spiritual belief they happen to be. Everyone brings to the table what spiritual work they are doing on themselves. We have a set of rules and guidelines we go by but we don't discuss religion, and we don't speak of what another said outside the group. We have atheists, christians, budhhists, agnostics, I don't give a damns etc etc. These are "my people" so to speak. and the ones who introduced me to this "4th dimension" and helped me to get a better understanding of Christ. if i tell you any more i'll have to kill you.
The only religious people I know are Muslim so i'm always DEBUNKING Islam. I've managed 1 convert so far.
Well, to bizarro land, and this is hard to put into words. My eyes were open, but I saw myself flying across, as best as I can put it, oceans of time. Over water, but the water itself seemed to be human history. And in a moment, I felt our entirety as a species. I felt all of time in a moment. Then, I was wrapped up in a lightning flash, that was warm, secure, protective; I was lifted up towards "heaven," and knew the lightning was "God the Father." As I approached the sky, my corporeal sense started to leave, and I became all spirit. I saw a shimmering, multi-colored cloud, which occluded a long, solid table or bench, itself occluded partially by a pristine, white cloud. From behind that cloud came a gleaming, golden light, a mammoth halo, really. This I knew to be Christ. Angels were singing the most glorious sound I had ever heard - I can't express it - and this sound fully extinguished my body and I became one with God. I have had many such dreams - most of them, when I was a teenager, some of them, visions while awake. Buddha across a lake of fire, beckoning me to come across this small lake. As I stepped onto the "water," the trees surrounding him became richly jeweled and dipped down to the fire, and I then knew I was no longer "body," but fully realized, and fully safe. Many more. Odd that I can remember them so vividly, even now.
Nice interpretations of your experience and I knew it would would look like this. But if you follow your church you're lost. If you follow your priests you're lost. If you follow your Imams you're lost. If you follow your monks you're lost. If you follow your buddhas you're lost. If you follow your Gurus you're lost. If you follow your relgion you're lost. BUT IF YOU FOLLOW THE HOLY SPIRIT YOU WILL BE GUIDED INTO ALL THE TRUTH. Dear Friend, it is because YOU have invited the Holy Spirit into your live some times before that happened. Think about.