by gskern » August 31st, 2005, 1:32 am
John Anthony:
Thanks very much for adding good reference material (substance) to the discussion along the lines of how our own MINDS can provide us with experiences that some people would swear are "literal" interactions with God...
SteveO:
Thank YOU, too, not so much for your scripture pointer but for the Lewis quote, one of my all-time Favorites. Indeed, it speaks to the very core of what this whole thread is about: The only thing I really know for sure is that I have this Desire inside me which nothing in this world can satisfy; GOD is, to me, the only rational explanation for the existence of the Desire.
The Bible tells us that the heart of Man is deceitful and desperately wicked... As far as I know, no "magic" happens at Salvation, aside from the startling realization that I'll never have that Desire fulfilled by anything I will ever say or do, no matter how "good", and that 1) broken-ness leading to 2) surrender morphing into 3) devotion is the only way Home.
So with these things in mind, any "ecstatic" experience I might have is almost, for one thing, immediately suspect, and for another, wholly unnecessary to the pattern I've just described.
I'll (literally) SEE Him soon enough; in the mean time, I must do as Lewis suggested and "pray for the gift of Faith"...