I haven't been on Bandmix much these days, sorry. (Or... Your welcome, to those who have been happy about this! LOL)
I have been on Facebook quite a bit more. If anyone is missing interaction with me (cue the smartass comments that should be forthcoming. LOL) then PLEASE sign me up on Facebook!
MIKE:
I don't feel like quoting your comments, as it is a little late and I'm tired, but let me address a few points, and please repeat anything else specifically you want me to address!
1) You have assumed a definitive position, based on probability, due to lack of evidence. This is often a reasonable approach, for example... superstitions generally have NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER to back their claims up... e.g. 7 Years of bad luck for breaking a mirror. The big problem in your position, of course, would be your INCONSISTENCY! I am suspecting, that as a rational, scientifically grounded individual, you leave open the POSSIBILITY that aliens and alien spaceships may exist, yes? And yet there is NO PHYSICAL EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that has proven that this is true! Yet you still likely accept the POSSIBILITY of it! I would agree with you completely! I also, believe it is POSSIBLE! Where we differ however, is that you are not CONSISTENT, as proven by the fact, that you do not extend the same courtesy to "God" as you would to "Aliens". This would indicate that BIAS rules your decision on this, rather than FAIRNESS and LOGIC and CONSISTENCY. You are more than welcome to be BIASED against God, but I... simply refuse to be BIASED to the potential existence of the little green hairless space travelers!
2) You mentioned something about God's unwillingness to reveal Himself to the uninitiated or unbelieving... let me address that briefly...
If I had a parent that was out of country, and communicated with me through a shortwave radio on a daily basis, but YOU, did not have a shortwave radio, and consequently could not interpret the signal being sent, through your walls, and through your home, and THROUGH YOUR BODY as well, then... you may very well doubt my claims that I regularly receive messages from an invisible parent that you never get to see! However, clearly, if you LEARNED to obtain the necessary tools, and gained the necessary UNDERSTANDING of how to use those tools, then... you wouldn't doubt at all! You would be EXPERIENCING EXACTLY what I do! But until that occurs, you will understandably, continue to doubt my own experiences.
While that is a very limited analogy, I think you could understand my point.
The problem ESPECIALLY with that analogy, is that we are discussing a PHYSICAL COMMUNICATION that exists in time and space, in the physical environment our BODIES live in! The force of my analogy, is far more profound, when you understand, that communication with God... ONLY EXISTS SPIRITUALLY! Now we have graduated to a new plane, and a far more different reality, than the one you are currently aware of... namely... physical existence. We are discussing a WHOLE NEW SET of SENSES, that are not MEASURABLE physically! Now, your being able to gain the TOOLS and UNDERSTANDING to be able to communicate, as others do, with the divine, or with the spiritual plane itself, becomes far more complex and difficult. It is like whistling (but on crack). You can EXPLAIN to someone HOW to whistle, and do it VERY PRECISELY, and yet, chances are, the student WILL NOT whistle that day, and maybe not even for MANY DAYS afterwards! In fact, chances are, that even after very precise instructions, they may only be able to whistle, by hitting on it.... ACCIDENTALLY! If something as simple as WHISTLING can be that difficult to achieve (at first) then imagine, how much more difficult it may be to OPEN your spiritual senses, and then learn to communicate with them.
Having said all that... Please consider the following, as a further explanation of WHY not everyone can hear or perceive God's existence:
God created the PHYSICAL WORLD to run AUTOMATICALLY! That is why heavenly bodies rotate, and why there is such an exact and measurable science to everything we observe in the cosmos. God created the PHYSICAL WORLD as a HOUSE or DWELLING PLACE for HUMANS. He did this, because He intended to give HUMANS a particularly powerful gift... the gift of FREE WILL. He created humans with the intention of their being able to have GOD-LIKE powers, over... THEMSELVES! He gave us FREEDOM to CHOOSE the directions of our own lives. Because all people will not use that freedom for GOOD, and LOVE, then it becomes a potentially DANGEROUS POWER, because we can instead CHOOSE to do EVIL and to HARM OTHERS and to HATE and be DESTRUCTIVE, etc... Therefore, he created a NEW WORLD.... A NEW PLANE OF EXISTENCE, where this "experiment" (creating autonomous beings that can defy God and spiritual law) could play out, without bringing harm to the ETERNAL and PERMANENT EXISTENCE of the SPIRITUAL WORLD (which is actually MORE REAL than this world)
It is actually almost like placing a mentally ill person, in a padded room, where their damage (if they choose to be violent) is limited to THAT SPACE and THAT SPACE ONLY!
The COSMOS... is "OUR SPACE"
It is only the PHYSICAL WORLD that allows for the possibility of sin to exist, and so God created it to function INDEPENDENTLY and AUTOMATICALLY! Heavenly bodies rotate, in constant circular motion, to perpetuate it, along with the laws of thermodynamics, and everything else that science and physics have discovered about our physical state of existence.
God is NOT physical!
Because God is
NOT physical, He does not DWELL in physical matter, or time and space, as we do. He is ONLY spiritual, and as such, HE ONLY relates to humans SPIRITUALLY! Without the ability to communicate SPIRITUALLY with God, one is only left with observing the EFFECTS of God's existence, nature or functioning. Much like not being able to SEE WIND, but we can observe and intuit it's existence, through it's EFFECTS.
In any event, I am getting tired, and the information above, is why it "seems" so difficult to communicate with God, or why it may seem like God is hiding from non-believers. God is NEVER HIDING. He is ALWAYS AVAILABLE! The signal is ALWAYS BEING SENT! But like the shortwave radio... the right equipment and understand of that equipment, is ESSENTIAL to receive and then interpret the signals being sent.
3) People who communicate with God (and spiritually too I presume) are deluded or mentally ill in some way, or having hallucinations, etc...
I have had such experiences, and I am not deluded or psychotic in any way.
I'll try to briefly share a story, about my ex-wife, for now, who happens to be spiritually open, although she can't stand being able to do this, and keeps it turned off as much as possible.
My uncle died a number of years ago, and my ex-wife and I went to the funeral. While there, my uncle (the deceased one) realized that my wife could HEAR HIM! And so he started SCREAMING at her, to get his messages through! As I said, she tries and keep it turned off! But he was yelling and yelling, because he realized she could hear him. Finally she relented, and let him say what he wanted. While the minister was giving his eulogy, my uncle was arguing "with" the minister as he talked, saying.... "That's not true! I was NOT ready to die, and go to Heaven! My Heaven was with my family! That minister was not even my minister! He doesn't really know anything about me!" etc...
He told my wife that his greatest fear, was that when they closed the lid of that coffin and put his body into the ground, that his family would FORGET HIM and BURY HIS MEMORY with the coffin!
My wife did not tell me ANY of this, until the next day!
When she finally started telling me about this, I realized that we were driving in the very neighborhood or area, where my uncle lived! I though that this was probably not a coincidence, and so I told my wife that I thought we should pay my aunt (his widow) a visit, and if there was a sign, we would know that we could SHARE this knowledge with her, and maybe it would comfort her to know, that PEOPLE REALLY DO SURVIVE DEATH!!! As a Christian she BELIEVES this, but this would help PROVE it to her! And therefore comfort her heart!
My wife reluctantly agreed, and so we turned around, and went to his house.
When we walked in the door, I noticed two dogs, one on the ground floor with us, and the other at the top of the stairs. We were invited to sit down on the couch, and when we did, the dog from UPSTAIRS immediately made a bee-line straight for my wife! He put his paws on her, and just sat there staring at her with his head in her lap and his paws on her legs. My aunt observed... "Wow, he never does that!" - Does what? I asked! "He doesn';t take to strangers, ever... he is not very friendly to people he doesn't know. I thought that this was probably my "sign" and so it came into my heart to ask her a question, to verify this...
"Aunt Ginger... by any chance, was this dog, my uncle's favorite, between the two dogs?
"Oh yes! That was HIS dog! How did you know?
I asked her to sit down, and then asked if I could share something important with her. She said yes, and sat down. when I finished describing these experiences and told her EVERYTHING my uncle had told my wife, my aunt was crying, and said that EVERYTHING we said was true! The pastor WAS NOT his minister, etc... Then my wife started crying and said "I'm sorry for crying, but... He's here right now!" and she started repeating all of the things he was telling her... "He is saying that he loves you all very much, and that there is a spot out on the dock... right there... where he said he would love to sit all day long... it was his favorite spot, etc... etc...
My aunt verified EVERY BIT of this information, that we had no idea of, until my uncle told me wife about it. When everything was said and this was all over... my aunt told the room... "I'm taking this little lady (my wife) with me, to make some coffee for everyone! You guys just stay right there... she's coming with me!"
And she took my wife by the arm, and smiling and crying, they both went into the kitchen... after a while, when they came out with the coffee... my wife suddenly said...
"Oh, I almost forgot! He said to tell you THANK YOU for the little box you gave him!"
My aunt, now started crying all over again, and she said...
"At the viewing (of the body) I had placed a small box underneath his body, to be buried with him. I put things that were special to the two of us in the box, but... I was alone when I put the box under his body, and... I never told anyone that I had done that.... not even the kids."
Mike... that is a TRUE STORY about my own family. I would NEVER use anyone's death, as a TOOL for making up or telling a false story.... PARTICULARLY not about my own deceased uncle, who I loved!
Now... YOU EXPLAIN that to me, and tell me where DELUSION fits into it!
