Religious experience question?

Here is a question for you guys. Do you think that to be true hearted Christian you have to have had a religious experience?

I have had many in my life and I have only been a Christian for a year and I'm only 17. God has produced me with love, shaking, crying, prophecy, seminar talks and much much more

I know a few Christians who have turned away from Christianity as they have not felt God. So do you think a true hearted Christian has to have had a religious experience to know they want to give there life to Jesus?

I will leave this open for debate. :)

Thank you

i was a former christian and i dont believe a word in the bible. but, the gospel of jesus i like, i know how he felt for 40nights/40days.

an experience talking with 'god' is all in your own head. my talk went like the angel on one shoulder, devil on the other analogy. mine lasted 2 day/2nights. the experience is telepathic.

shes the clouds, shes the rain

mother nature
father time

LOVE

no bible, talking snake, sorry for being rude sort, i dont mean to come of wrong

[Silver]

I tend to think one has to be true hearted to be anybody. To be in touch with one's feelings, to have a measurable amount of introspect, to care, period and to be true to one's self. I sometimes think that the church and the bible are for those who need training wheels to be 'real' and to have conscience and feel a connection to other living things.

they need something outside of existence to govern the laws within the universe and existence

when the truth is, the universe knows what its doing or it wouldn't have evolved a reasoning mind like ours. or even exist.

50/50 flip
heads: potential for something
tails: absolute nothingness

flip
flip
flip

eventually you'll get potential, proven because, we exist.

[Zagacat]

Originally Posted by sdr100

Here is a question for you guys. Do you think that to be true hearted Christian you have to have had a religious experience?

I have had many in my life and I have only been a Christian for a year and I'm only 17. God has produced me with love, shaking, crying, prophecy, seminar talks and much much more

I know a few Christians who have turned away from Christianity as they have not felt God. So do you think a true hearted Christian has to have had a religious experience to know they want to give there life to Jesus?

I will leave this open for debate. :)

Thank you

I don't think you necessarily have to have a religious experience to be the true hearted Christian. I think that it may reinforce beliefs if you do. On a side note, I feel that people tend to confuse these spiritual happenings as proof that their religion or belief system is the way to go and so they close themselves off to their full capacity for spiritual knowledge.

Ok that's cool but what do you think of religious experiences and people who have had them???

Originally Posted by sdr100

Ok that's cool but what do you think of religious experiences and people who have had them???

Many of the really cool Christian and Jewish experiances that have been shared ended up in the Bible, eh?

Send down 7 plagues and part a sea, knocked off your donkey, ride a boat on a water filled planet, live for a few hundered years...

[Perspective]

Originally Posted by Zagacat

I don't think you necessarily have to have a religious experience to be the true hearted Christian. I think that it may reinforce beliefs if you do. On a side note, I feel that people tend to confuse these spiritual happenings as proof that their religion or belief system is the way to go and so they close themselves off to their full capacity for spiritual knowledge.

I agree. That is why I'm so grateful for this forum- to feel open to explore & learn spiritually. I go to a church that insists it's the only true church in the world. Many people will tell you that they felt the spirit testify that it is, but so have others of other faiths! ;) For a while, I had many unanswered questions about Christianity & beyond feeling really good & hopeful in a Savior, I hadn't had any major spiritual experience telling me that Jesus was my Savior... yet I considered myself a genuine Christian.

The idea of Jesus Christ is inspiring in many ways! How beautiful it is even just to hope in being completely & unconditionally understood & loved! When we are in tune, we can feel that, since the kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17). I'm still learning how to interpret & act on spiritual experiences. But I'll tell you - when I felt the spirit about something that logically, I knew wasn't right, I realized that spiritual experiences are when we tap into that unconditional love, & not necessarily universal truth. (Also, spiritual feelings are meant to be combined with intellect & experience.) Love is Love, no matter if you call it Jesus, Buddha or Allah.

[inspirit]

A Christian should experience faith. If that counts as a religious experience, then yes. A lot of kids enter into Christianity when they're young only to become atheists later in life. I'm not judging but I think it's questionable whether people like that ever experienced faith in God. Believing in a doctrine of others is one thing. Experiencing faith for yourself is another.

[John32241]

Whatever belief system a person uses, they need to invest(trust) in their insights about how that system supports their life. That is where the experience factor comes from.

John