Did you ever "feel" the holy spirt "apon you"? (page 4)

tec

I agree, Shades. Being called is not the same as having the Spirit. Many are called; few are chosen.

Peace,

Tammy

Since the idea of Original Sin was made up by Christians and not the Jewish Faith certain attachments to that concept follow- feeling condemned, and a special elect few who are saved. Judaism developed the concept of human goodness, free intelligence, and the perfectibility of humans.

Rabbi Yoachanan ben Zakkai, a contemporary of Jesus, wrote: 'God can be served only those who excercise their moral will for doing good freely'. And the Teacher Maimonides wrote: "Man is the only being in creation who by himself and through his own discernment and by his own thinking can differentiate between the good and the evil'. All of this was based on Deut.30:19, the statement by God about being the captain of your own ship.

Another point of differentiation between Judaism and Christianity was the gathering of all humans to God in Paradise- Gan Eden, (No human left behind) unlike christianity.

geevee

What an interesting topic and some thought provoking posts.

Unfortunately a wasted 10 years as an elder and never once did i "feel" the holy spirit as defined by a religious experience. I had many discussions with some very religious non witness people who felt god guiding their every move and m yet here was I in gods own organization and never felt what they felt ever.

The so-called holy spirit directed decisions of elder bodys is basically whatever the most popular point of veiw is at the time. If one elder has a very strong point of view and is influential over enough, his idea carries. Is that holy spirit in action? I don't think so...

designs

Geevee- Just consider that phenomenological experiences are mostly self-induced and cultural. If you were in Turkey having an ecstatic experience you would probably be a Sufi Muslim.

ShadesofGrey

Thank you Tammy. I never related the two scriptures and that is very insightful.

finally awake

I never felt "holy spirit". Maybe someday I'll have some grand revelation or feel like God is talking to me, but it hasn't happened yet.

designs

Culture specific religious experience- Under the Holy Spirit a Catholic will see Mary but a Charismatic Evangelicas won't, a Greek Orthodox will walk on hot coals during Anastaneria, Eastern mystics claim disease cannot reach them, Buddishm relates 8 levels of asborption, Yoga teaches levels of samadhi.

Qcmbr

I felt 'it' many times. I still do. I just recognise now that its not the spirit and on the wave of that emotion I no longer try and make highly charged emotional statements.

My experiences normally centered around an emotional incident (such as helping someone I'd taught be baptised - rolls eyes) and I'd describe it as follows:

The hairs on the back of my neck would rise and I'd get a delicious 'taste' senstion in my mouth, my heart rate would soar and I'd feel a rush of adrenaline mixed with a feeling of love and a sense of blissful happiness ( very, very close to the feelings of early romance when the whole world is sunny.) This feeling would be so intense that it would transcend my ability to think about it and so I just had to experience it and it felt like letting go of my mental reins. That feeling of conscious release was my experience of religious ecstacy and I felt compelled to praise the 'source' of that feeling ('god') and I would feel t that moment as though this was heaven must feel like. Bliss.

The reality of course was that I was experiencing a hormonal and chemical rush which does quite overload the brains normal sensory capabilities leading to that sense of otherworldliness. I was enjoying my own chemical high. The reasons why not everyone experiences that feeling of elation, calm, love, transcendent peace, 'spiritual' overload is - to me - relatively simple. The more in control one is of their emotions and mental thoughts (and I mean the real authentic you) the less likely one is to initiate the cascade of chemicals or are more likely to fight it when it starts (keeping oneself in check). When you look at the born again wild conventions / shamanistic tribal dances these people have simply allowed their inhibitions to be relaxed and are externalising the high that is available to most people. Chemically we are different so there are also some people who are not predisposed to these emotional highs anyway.

The trick in all this is who you allow to define your experience. As a missionary I was very effective at getting certain, credulous people to feel the hairs on the back of their neck to rise as I used some pretty appaling mind tricks to get people emotionally charged and just at the right moment, like a good comedian delivering a punchline, I'd lower my voice , look them directly in the eye and ask them - 'do you feel the spirit now, how amazing is that!? - that is what the power of god feels like, that is why he sent us here to your home at this moment - for you.' In other words I'd reframed a purely physical emotional experience (that is undeniably lovely ) and given them 1 - proof of god, 2 - proof of my credentials as a 'servant of god' and 3 - a reason to unquestionably accept every bit of tripe I would subsequently say.

Once the experience is anchored to a divine explanation a testimony is born and just like a drug addict people want more of it and so faith is planted.

aquagirl

Yeah.Certain pain meds will do that for ya too...

leavingwt

No, just emotions.

Music > Holy Spirit

Did you ever "feel" the holy spirt "apon you"?

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