I've come for you

[coffeem8]

Hey y'all

Let's play a game.. you tell me why you don't believe in God, and I will attempt to change your mind!

If you already believe in God + Jesus, we can talk about that, too

Yay! It'll be fun, lol

[Goat]

2. My grandmother took me to church when I was a little older, maybe 3. There were a lot of toys, and when they asked me if I knew Jesus I said, "Yes. I want to play with that play stove." Lol

3. I went to church Baptist, for the following 15 years, and then again for 4-5, during which time was a Sunday school teacher and president of the ladies' auxilliary. This I say not in any way bragging or saying I was so holy or whatever... I relate that experience to make it evident to you that I was considered a teacher-and-president leveled person. Aged 25 or 26.

4. This might be like bragging, but oh well. I scored in the top 10th percentile of students in the US in some subjects on the SAT's in 1999. I'm saying that to express that I don't doubt me, i know why I believe anything, because that's who I am, and I know me, and I don't believe anything without a real good reason.

These personal details are not important to the truth of the matter. It does show early childhood conditioning though. It shows how society can steer someone's personal belief.

5. We found my son upstairs, at night, not breathing... dead.. I screamed to God, blew in his mouth, and he freaking came back alive, THANKYOU GOD...THANKYOU THANKYOU....

Well, your son might not have been breathing, but it is most likely he was not yet dead, and the act of breathing into his mouth got his lungs working again. That's why they do teach mouth to mouth resuscitation.


My husband had gotten up to use the bathroom and heard my younger son crying softly and calling Blake's name.

We don't know how long it had been. My young son was too young to describe anything except that the bed had been shaking.

The doctors found nothing wrong, no sign of him not breathing and no sign of damage.
[/quote]
Well, your son might not have been breathing, but it is most likely he was not yet dead, and the act of breathing into his mouth got his lungs working again. That's why they do teach mouth to mouth resuscitation. It is also likely that your young son recognized something wrong, because the bed was shaking. The calling out to god is incidental. Correlation is not causation.

5. When I pray he answers.

How do you know that? How can you know it's not confirmation bias?


6. In 2013 I called a guy for prayer and he cast demons out of me in the name of Jesus. As soon as he said, "in the name of Jesus," I fell to my knees and something Shot 4-5 feet from my mouth.

I said, "What was that?"

I had been to church for all those years, and other churches, yet I had never even heard of evil spirits, demons. And there, for thirty minutes he prayed for me in that way, and afterward, I didn't feel like killing myself anymore! For the first time ever!

He explained that when we sin, we allow a corresponding evil spirit to enter our beings and stay there.

I spent the rest of these years studying to see if this was true, if Jesus is true, if other things are true, experimenting and meditating and proving to myself whether it was all true. I started studying the bi le in 2003, and then, I studied deliverance and evil spirits and psychology issues and news and politics and human behavior and news and celebrity news and conspiracy theory and mainstream news, and observing.

So yes, even though I can expect a superbly written refusal of everything I say, well, that's ok, because I KNOW.

And there is more; if you'd like to hear it just say so
[/quote]

How do you know that? How do you know that it wasn't your body reacting to the emotional internment of the prayer session, and you convinced yourself it was an evil spirit? I can show people have phyiscal reactions to emotional experiences without any kind of divine intervention. How do you know it's not that much more mundane experience??

You can believe what you want, however, there are much more mundane explanations for what you think occurred.

[coffeem8]

I didn't discount the story about Cat. I said I can't verify it!

You are welcome to believe or disbelieve my account.

[coffeem8]

[Replying to Goat in post #81]
I'm just telling you what happened... most assuredly not asking anyone

I haven't told my entire testimony yet...

The one where I began by saying "this is why I believe...."

Surprised you didn't catch that.. as obviously more educated you are about what has happened in my life than I am.....

[Goat]

[Replying to Goat in post #81]
I'm just telling you what happened... most assuredly not asking anyone

I haven't told my entire testimony yet...

The one where I began by saying "this is why I believe...."

Surprised you didn't catch that.. as obviously more educated you are about what has happened in my life than I am.....

That is not the point I was making. The point I was making was that quite often, peoples interpretation of events in their life is colored by their confirmation bias and expectations, and it very often, their interpretation of the events is flawed .

There was someone on here a long time ago who used to be a strong fundamentalist believer, and mentioned everything he saw , he interpreted as evidence of God. When he lost his faith, he realized he was projecting his desires on what he expected to see, rather than what was actually there.

[coffeem8]

I get that, and please know that sometimes I'm making sarcastic jokes just because it makes me smile, like when I said you were more educated about what happened in my life than I am. These words look so stark, unlike attitude and feelings behind my words.

It's sometimes difficult to tell when I'm joking..

So yes, I see what you mean, as you are simply presenting the evidence you have that causes reasonable doubt.

But again, I'm not done with the whole thing, have not presented the entire evidence of why I believe 100% that Jesus is the truth, and that what the Bible says is probably true. Yes I said probably.

Btw, as far as when my son was dead, I guess you'd just have to have held a dead person and a live person to know whether a person is/was dead or alive, and i have.

I hope you understand that I accept whether you believe me or not, and I might could list for you all the reasons you may have to not believe me!

I just happen to know that these things did happen, and more confirming things happened. Sometimes I know what and why about things and sometimes I don't, I just feel obligated as a searcher for answers and truth to present my testimony of the things that I have actually experienced, for myself.

I actually think that when you've seen the whole story, you will agree.

But you know, truth exists no matter who believes it.

That's the truth I am interested in, in finding and being able to truly trust. Truth that is true all by itself, without needing anyone's recommendation or approval including my own.

So, if I keep telling the reasons, please know I am aware of your doubts because I had them along the way too, and they were cleared up as time passed. Every doubt and almost every question ever had has been answered in a supernatural way in combinations of scripture and happenstance! It's amazing!!

As far as testimonies of people everywhere with different experiences with different deities and such: yes, there are many! I've learned that there is an element of reason and truth in most of the traditions and beliefs in all continuing groups. I believe that element of truth is the power of the continuation.

I believe that Jesus is ->THE<- truth. He claimed that he is/was.

Why do I believe the Bible isn't lying? Because I have been testing it since 2003 to see if it were lying, and have never found a lie so far.

This is actually one of the reasons I believe it... because I read the verse "thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee."

I thought about that a long time, and theorized that somehow, according to that scripture, it is possible to actually CONTAIN the word in a HEART....

so I began to test this by purposely reading the whole thing, literally eyes wide open, seriously reading, but not memorizing.

It has been very important that I not memorize it! So, although I do not recommend this habit of not often reading the Bible, that is what I've been doing, to see if. When presented with any situation, if the "word" was actually in there, in me, in my heart.

And IT IS!!!! While I'm having conversations, verses rise to my consciousness one after the other, pertaining to the conversation!!!

And this is also a test of it's claim that it's the "Living Word." Alive.... that would mean it does things, it answers on its own!! That's what I've found anyway. And that's another reason I believe it all.

And it must be acknowledged that no one can refute this claim until they've experimented with it the same way! I challenge anyone to try this out.

Maybe you could do a mini challenge, where you just read one chapter.

I suggest either the first chapter of John or the 10th chapter of Proverbs.

You can try what I did by reading one of those chapters, and noting for the next 30 days whether those words become woven into your life experience, on their own without you memorizing it, and for your good.

[Clownboat]

I get that, and please know that sometimes I'm making sarcastic jokes just because it makes me smile, like when I said you were more educated about what happened in my life than I am. These words look so stark, unlike attitude and feelings behind my words.

It's sometimes difficult to tell when I'm joking..

So yes, I see what you mean, as you are simply presenting the evidence you have that causes reasonable doubt.

But again, I'm not done with the whole thing, have not presented the entire evidence of why I believe ...

I have read far too many testimonies from Muslims like yourself as to why their experiences lead them to a belief that Allah is the one true God.
Therefore, you would need to do better to convince me about the truth of Allah.
I do wish you well though and certainly do not think you are lying about your experiences.

[coffeem8]

Yeah, you're right, I'm never gonna be able to prove Allah to anyone.

[Clownboat]

Yeah, you're right, I'm never gonna be able to prove Allah to anyone.

I know, but don't fret. The same goes for Christians, Hindu's and on and on about their preferred god concepts. It's one thing all religions have in common it seems. Appreciate you telling your story though!
Be well.