Question #27
The ClubHouse: Archives: Question #27
Mssilhouette | Saturday, April 06, 2002 - 11:42 am     I thought the answers to question #27 in the Questions...that make you go hmmm? thread was most interesting... 27.) If God appeared to you in a series of vivid and moving dreams and told you to leave everything behind, travel alone to the Red Sea and become a fisherman, what would you do? What if you were told to sacrifice your child? Most of the answers seem to be "NO". Frankly so is mine but I wonder what that says. I'm not what one would call religious but I am a spiritual person. Having watched the 10 commandments recently, (Easter, you know) what struck me about that movie after all this time was that Moses had to show "his people" several times over that he was God's chosen person. I mean even after they saw him part the red sea, they still decided to make an idol to worship and he was only gone for 40 days. Anyway, I suppose it's interesting to me in a way the power of belief and the power of skepticism. In some ways we never question having a higher power but only if that power decides to show itself to us then we start to look for the man behind the curtain. Any thoughts? |
Oregonfire | Saturday, April 06, 2002 - 12:13 pm     For me the question is a faulty dilemma. I assumed that God would be testing my faith by asking me to do these things, but I don't believe in God, so have no prior faith to be tested. |
Twiggyish | Saturday, April 06, 2002 - 12:31 pm     Even though I believe in God, I would still question that type of dream. How would I know it wasn't a fanciful figment of my imagination? I also wonder if others could thus be convinced of the validity of my dream. If you look at cults such as, Heaven's Gate, they blindly followed someone's dream. Is that a normal event? No. So if we are a more skeptical society, it is evident some are still able to be swayed to blindly believe. This leads me back to Moses, I believe he was truly inspired by God. If he lived today, would we follow him? I think most of us would be skeptical, as in the old days. It would take a lot of miracles to convince us to believe him. |
Urgrace | Saturday, April 06, 2002 - 02:37 pm     If your name is in the Book of Life and you have accepted God you wouldn't have one worry. In my faith the Son of God was already sacrificed for all of us, so there's no need for any more blood to be shed. |
Littlebreeze | Saturday, April 06, 2002 - 06:49 pm     God in a dream telling you to go alone to the Red Sea and become a fisherman?.... kill your child? No pun intended but, my God! Who in their right mind??? In all seriousness, that's a very common occurance with schizophrenics and people suffering from other mental illness, God speaking to them in dreams, telling them to run naked through the streets or to go to McDonald's and kill everyone in sight. I fully believe in God but if I had the dream described in this question and I, for one second, took it for anything more than the fanciful wanderings of the dreaming mind, then I'd be on the phone making an appointment with a psychiatrist. |
Twiggyish | Saturday, April 06, 2002 - 06:58 pm     Exactly my point LB! |
Mssilhouette | Saturday, April 06, 2002 - 11:20 pm     Outside of the killing a child, which I highly doubt the higher power would do but wasn't there a story in the bible where God did ask this very thing of one of his creations. But I digress, how would one envision a higher power communicating with them? And if Moses was around today and saw a burning bush, then it spoke to him. He'd probably be making an appointment as well. Of course how would anyone know if someone really was having a personal conversation with God. Many leaders of the church claim to do just this, yet they aren't looked at strangely. Also if you don't believe in God then the question for you would obviously be moot. |
Llkoolaid | Sunday, April 07, 2002 - 05:08 am     << Of course how would anyone know if someone really was having a personal conversation with God. Many leaders of the church claim to do just this, yet they aren't looked at strangely. >> not meaning any disrespect but I disagree, they are looked upon strangely by a lot of people, especially non-believers. I don't know where I stand, I admire peoples faith and envy the security that it brings them but as much as I would like to believe in god I can't help question it. |
Flint | Sunday, April 07, 2002 - 06:16 am     Move to the red sea and become a fisherman? No. Now if he told me to open a squid bar, sure. Kill my child? Nope, and if I were religious I would question having any faith in God at that point. Any God I believe in would not ask me to do something that morally and ethically repugnant. At that point I would renounce any faith I had in him/her/it. Or, depending on how faithful I was, I would be more inclined to believe it was the Devil talking to me. If the being proved it was god, I would then tell him to take a flying f*** at a rolling donut and convert to another religion, or stay away from them all together. If it was a test of faith, well, I don't like games. Whether it is a woman playing them, or a god. Faith works both ways, and if he were really all knowing he wouldn't have to test mine. |
Admin | Wednesday, May 01, 2002 - 06:55 am     I'd quit taking LSD.. |
Sunshinemiss | Wednesday, May 01, 2002 - 11:56 am     Or start taking Paxil... |
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