Christian Views

AttentionKMartShoppers · Sat Apr 02, 2005 5:12 pm

Mastermind, experiencing supernatural events does not draw people to God. For example, those ouiji boards DO work. It's some demon controlling it, and some people who use it suffer from headaches after it (G K Chesterton was deep into spirituality before becoming a great apologist for Christianity, and when he used the ouiji board, it kept on telling him the same thing over...don't remember what it was). It's a rather good ploy-it's a compromise between atheism and theism-it gives you a supernatural realm to believe in, but no supreme being to control you-it's just there. They (supernatural experiences) don't draw people closer to God, but can send them off the wrong road.

Mastermind · Post by **Mastermind** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 8:50 pm

Worked for me.

AttentionKMartShoppers · Sat Apr 02, 2005 8:58 pm

What exactly was your experience Mastermind? I probably shouldn't have omitted a disclaimer saying "not true in 100% of the cases." or something...

Mastermind · Post by **Mastermind** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 9:11 pm

Astral projection. I popped out of my body for a while.

Believer · Post by **Believer** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 9:14 pm

Mastermind wrote:Astral projection. I popped out of my body for a while.

For real

? Or maybe a dream, or something else non-supernatural. What was it like?

AttentionKMartShoppers · Sat Apr 02, 2005 9:15 pm

And that sent you off into believing in God for the first time, or to believe stronger?

Mastermind · Post by **Mastermind** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 9:16 pm

Believe stronger. Supposedly it happens to 10% of people at least once in their lifetime. It wasn't a dream. Trust me, if it happened to you, you would be able to tell the difference.

Believer · Post by **Believer** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 9:17 pm

Mastermind wrote:Believe stronger. Supposedly it happens to 10% of people at least once in their lifetime. It wasn't a dream. Trust me, if it happened to you, you would be able to tell the difference.

What happens? Indulge me

.

Mastermind · Post by **Mastermind** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 9:26 pm

Err, I don't quite remember. I was reading a book on the subject by an indian who had been an atheist himself, and he gave me some techniques to do before bed, saying that in a couple of weeks, I should be able to do it. It took me 4 days. Unfortunately, the techniques require quite a bit of patience(something I severely lack), and I was simply curious to see if there was any truth to it, so I never repeated the experiment.

Prodigal Son · Post by **Prodigal Son** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 11:41 am

bizzt,

i think i can be implied from scripture, as God "breathed life" into both animals and man.

an article you might enjoy:

http://www.str.org/free/commentaries/ph ... animal.htm

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 3:19 pm

I was gone for the weekend - just skimmed over the 10 or so new posts to this thread (wow)

Animals do have spirits - Eccl 3:21 This verse makes a distinction tho between human and animal spirits... One goes up the other goes down - might relay some distinction in how eternal ours vs theirs are but I really don't know. Verse does make it clear tho, beasts/animals have spirits.

I did a study a while back about the difference between souls and spirits. It was a rough thing to study and I came to no conclusions. Every time I thought I had something I'd find another verse that interchanged words... I used the KJV so you might want to try going back to the hebrew/greek. For some reason the KJV translators interchanged "Holy Spirt" and "Holy Ghost" in the new testament. They're the same words in the greek though "Hagious pneuma" spelling might be off... So, I didn't really finish that study - sorry I can't help.

AttentionKMartShoppers · Sun Apr 03, 2005 3:24 pm

But, we do agree that the human soul is superior and different from that of animals, correct? God spoke the souls of animals into existence, but God breathed in the soul of man.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 4:04 pm

I'd pretty much agree with that. Spirits of Beats go downward, spirits of man go upwards... There are no animals recorded in revelation standing before the throne of God for judgment. We have a special place in the eyes of the Lord.

AttentionKMartShoppers · Sun Apr 03, 2005 5:40 pm

What do the directions indicate? Is it that when an animal dies, the spirit dissipates and that's it? And is it that when man dies, the saved souls go up to heaven? WEIRD.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 5:42 pm

AttentionKMartShoppers wrote:What do the directions indicate? Is it that when an animal dies, the spirit dissipates and that's it? And is it that when man dies, the saved souls go up to heaven? WEIRD.

The spirit of man is different from the soul of animals. Animals with soul have characteristics of higher intelligence, however the spirit of man is the part of him that is made in the image of God. That is why men go up to heaven and animals don't, because the spiritual side of man is in God's image.