What led me to God

[Lord Kenneth]

You're not taking it seriously. You're just being a moronic cretin.

You're right, Ruby really does talk to demons.

Hey, Ruby! Say "hi!" to Max for me!

 

[Martin]

You're right, Ruby really does talk to demons

I didn't say that, moron.

 

[Lord Kenneth]

I think it's insulting that Ruby calls herself a "skeptic" and turns out to be a class-A woo-woo.

 

[Martin]

Good. You deserve to be insulted.

 

[Lord Kenneth]

Good. You deserve to be insulted.

Sorry, sorry, sorry!

I'm sorry for saying you weren't completely sane, Ruby.

No, we ALL hear demonic voices. Perfectly natural. In fact, I retaliated because I'm jealous, because I'm the insane one, not hearing these voices and all.

 

[Martin]

{sigh}

What's it like on the left of the bell curve, anyway?

 

[c4ts]

Get a room, you two.

 

[Lord Kenneth]

Fine.

I apologize, Ruby.

You're not insane, you're just "mistaken".

 

[Ruby]

Re: Re: What led me to God

How do you know God is not another inner voice? You readily admit that you've convinced yourself of things with the subconscious voices "Mara" and "Max." What makes the "God" voice different? Other people hear it, too?

That's a very good question to ask. I have pondered it many times. My faith is low in this area...the area of hearing from God.............I find that many Christians claim "God said this" and "God said that" while it does not jive at all with any situation. I have also seen instances of people saying God said such and such would happen...and it did happen.

I am not ready to call the voice of God just another part of me. I need other things clarified or put to rest before I can drop my belief in God. Frankly, that seems terrifying in itself. How does one cope without a belief in God?

 

[Lord Kenneth]

Here's a theory, Ruby.

Perhaps the demons really were aliens, and they were planning to abduct you while you were in a Lutheran church.

Unfortunantly, their plan messed up and you went Pentacostal instead.

 

[Lord Kenneth]

<center>

My name is Max, I shall rip away your flesh and feast upon your soul.

</center>

 

[c4ts]

Re: Re: Re: What led me to God

How does one cope without a belief in God?

Qute well, it seems. Some of the atheists on this board say they feel emancipated from having to incorporate everything into a complex system of beliefs where they have to jump through hoops just to keep it consistent with what they find out for themselves. I think Dr. Matt said it was like the feeling of relief that comes after you finish beating your head against the wall (in another thread, somewhere).

 

[Lord Kenneth]

How does one cope without a belief in God?

Same way one copes without a belief in gnomes.

 

[triadboy]

Re: Re: Re: What led me to God

How does one cope without a belief in God? [/COLOR]

How does one cope believing in the ridiculous god described in the Bible? If you've never read the Bible, do yourself a favor and read it. The jealousy...the hatred for humanity...the pettiness is overwhelming. The god of the Old Testament is the tribal god of one particular group. He avows that other gods exist. He certainly isn't the god of the Egyptians. However in the New Testament, god loves everyone now. He's psychotic. If there is a supreme being (which I doubt) - the Bible would be an insult. All it does is create guilt and fear.

 

[Ruby]

Ruby

You are not crazy. You have known, all along, that those voices are really just you, saying the things you want to say but are afraid to say.

Emotions are our way of motivating ourselves to do things. You were in an intolerable situation, and so you talked yourself into changing it. You tried being nice at first (Mara), and when that didn't work, you scared yourself into it (Max). Perfectly reasonable, when you think about it: change takes a lot of effort and risk, and so it's not surprising that it takes a strong spur to get you moving.

I don't know what your problems are, but I am guessing you have some issues with authority. Turning to God was a way of trumping your father's authority: God is a bigger authority than dad. Of course, the authority you should be taking orders from is yourself. And guess what... since God is a voice inside your head, you are! The only thing you need the religious trappings for is the social support: when you tell dad, "I have to do X," he argues with you, but if you say, "God says I have to do X," then he has to argue with the priests.

I did have some issues with my dad concerning authority, but they were not serious. It was mainly his ideas on how I should raise my son that brought tension. My dad never told me what to do like a normal parent would. That's due to the fact that he did not raise me. Most of the time I spent with him was as an adult. He passed away nearly three years ago now. Miss him very much!

 

[Ruby]

Ruby, you said on the other thread that what brought you to your crisis was your own fault.

I'm not seeing how you would be at fault at all in this situation. If demons existed (I think they don't) then you were deceived by one. You didn't invite a demon to posess you so to speak.

But you also think it's possible that the voices and the compulsions were totally your own. You would not be at fault here either as mental illness is not a person's fault.

Well, you have a point, but I still feel to blame. I feel that I fooled around with something that I should have left alone. I have never thought of the incidence in terms of mental illness.

 

[Ruby]

Oh man, if you're having problems getting freaked out by paranormal experience, you come here first! Going to the Million Dollar Challenge forum and posting "I'M POSSESSED"
would probably lead us to get you some serious help (unless you really wanted to be possessed, but you make it sound like it was not the case). Well, I suppose the JREF board didn't exist then.

Nope, what a shame!

Still, you could have seen a psychologist first. Finding a religion like that is using a bigger problem to cure a smaller one, because it just encourages you to be even more superstitious, in believing that a new imaginary character vanquishes the old, scary, one.

I was more scared of Doctors and Psychiatrists than I was religion. I also felt I could cover up the situation better with my dad if I went the religion route.

Anyway, there's a reason ouija boards don't really work for just one person, and a very simple explanation of why. Can you think of what it might be?

But the ouija did work just fine for me alone. I played it alone all the time. The marker seemingly moved without me moving it at all. It was bizzarre. No wonder so many can be sucked in by it.

 

[Ruby]

There's no call for crap like that. There are plenty of people out there who deserve our scorn. Ruby isn't one of them.

Thank you!!!

 

[Ruby]

Hearing voices in your head isn't exactly a sign of sanity.

It's not termed as "insanity" either. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that many suffer from. My incident with "hearing voices" lasted eight months. That is not anything like the illness of schizophrenia. People can live with the disorder for years and years. That whole incident happened to me over ten years ago.

 

[Ruby]

I will reply to everyone else tomorrow. Must go to bed now...very sleepy!!!