The God Experiment.

reply to post by AdamLaw


Your life improved for one simple reason. You have fed your soul. You and your soul are not necessarily the same thing right now. By reading the word of God, you soul is being nourished and fed. It's like the bios and blank hard drive receiving programming for the first time. Your material man is in the material realm. Your soul is not. The entire point of finding union with God is bringing the soul and mind into the spiritual realm.

Romans 8

Life Through the Spirit

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

Some would suggest that you are not being sincere in this and God will not honor your actions if the heart is not right with Him. This is not necessarily the case. All realms of existence are governed by law and God is not subject to our actions. It is the other way around. We are subject to the laws of each realm we occupy. By wandering into a foreign land for some time, you are experiencing a realm that you have not sensed before. If you hop on a flight to Paris, your entire nature will reflect the place you are. The place itself has no opinion of you at all. The smells, language, weather, people and general atmosphere become entangled with you while you are there. The same is true when you venture into a realm that is not flesh, but spiritual in nature. Your intentions are of no effect on the fact that you wandered in. None of this makes a difference unless your heart is changed by the experience.

So, what will happen now? It's simple. Water puts out fire. When you return to the fire of life's trials, you will desire the water you have experienced. Stay in the water long enough and you will never return to the fire and be harmed. God demonstrates Himself to all who knock and seek. It's a realm that you can visit or one that can become your home and hope for the future. Either way, John 2 stands as true.

John 2

23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.

The real problem for you will come when you decide you would like God to change your heart. Be prepared. The Comforter that greeted you at the door is the same comforter that is needed when God begins to change your heart with Spirit and Fire. If you tickle the dragon, be prepared to take the heat.

Gospel of Philip

"Glass and ceramic vessels are made with fire. If glass vessels break, they are redone, since they have been made through breath. But if ceramic vessels break, they are destroyed, since they have been made without breath."

If you can take the heat and see how God transforms your former life, you will never look back. Read the article on Glass and Ceramic Vessels in my signature link. Play with the Spirit all you want. Unless He breathes on you, your heart will remain the same.

reply to post by Sissel

Originally posted by tinhattribunal reply to post by Sissel i think you should try this experiment for yourself.

Why? I am already a Christian who actually believes.

sorry! my mistake.

reply to post by AdamLaw


If you follow my instructions and read the article on Glass and Ceramic, realize the truth behind your thread: You are ceramic with a false facade of flesh. To allow God the opportunity to work on you, you need to become like glass. In other words, drop your false front and allow yourself to see the real you as a transparent vessel. God can remold you if the flesh is removed for the Spirit. To do this, your heart must be remade. You are the only one that can stand in the way. Step aside and let God develop your faith. Faith is not your department. Allowing God the room to work is your department. You have already taken the first steps toward the gateway. Sincere or not, God answered you with truth and a visible hope that is tangible. Welcome to the world of a believer. It only gets better, but not before getting worse. It's a pendulum. God takes you both directions until you reach equilibrium.

Don't believe me? Wait for it. The joy you have experienced will be met with the opposite. It's up to you to return the swing and accept what God shows you about yourself. You can fight it or you can embrace the change. It's up to you. Just remember one thing. You started the movement of the pendulum.

Is this God or something is happening in my brain causing secretions of certain hormones due to the fact that I am completely brainwashing myself with good thoughts and that I have less fear of dying since I think my little experiment will maybe grant me eternal life?

Yes that to but its divine as well.

God originally created us to fellowship with us
Religion sells the obedient slavery side of it...

Even when you are faking it and feel like a fraud when you pray you are making effort and it is honored.

If you have free time and truly wish to "experiment", then try this. Take yourself enough water for 5-7 days. Pack up a tent or just a sleeping bag if youre comfortable by a fire and not worried about rain. Spend at least 5 days fasting and praying, or if you become burnt out on praying, simply relax and think. See if you receive any clarification.

OP

If you are really doing this, and assuming you are looking for serious discussion and not lampooning believers, then in some ways, you are re-enacting a version of the "Philip Experiments." In order to put my finger on it, I had to refresh my recollection of the broad range of "Philip" phenomena, for which purpose, I re-read this article from this summer:

uncertaintist.wordpress.com...

The idea is that people can "make things happen," especially subjective things (like feeling good in the morning, or having religious experiences of various kinds) by pretending to interact with somebody out there. As the article points out, the effect doesn't depend on actually believing that the other party is really there (so, Stanford students imagining their school's founder paying them a visit works about as well as an insurance salesman imagining daily conferences with Abraham Lincoln, or the grad student dabbling in the spirits of witchery who's visited by flying druids).

I think the independence of propositional assent (whether or not you believe) has practical importance in understanding the "placebo effect." A sugar pill would work for many people, I think, even if they knew it was a sugar pill. Belief might affect how well it works, or for whom it works, but the basic placebo phenomenon isn't primarily or entirely belief-based, IMO.

In your specific case, I note that your regimen includes offering thanks for your food, so presumably about three times a day or so, you adopt a "thou" attitude toward some aspect of your life, maybe an aspect to which you might previously have adopted an "it" attitude. (Even though it might be more appropriate to thank the food for the sacifice it made so that you might live than, or in addition, to thank anybody else who might have been involved in the transaction.)

I'll leave you with a quote from Joseph Campbell on point,

The [North American] Indians addressed all of life as a "thou" -- the trees, the stones,
everything. You can address anything as a "thou," and if you do it, you can feel the change in
your own psychology. The ego that sees a "thou" is not the same ego that sees an "it."

Note that Campbell says nothing about believing anything. It is entirely "If you do it..." And you report yourself to be doing it, maybe three times a day.

reply to post by AdamLaw


Fascinating experiment. Can't wait to hear more as you go along.

I doubt there is anything wrong with lying from god's perspective. After all, read the bible, he's been known to tell the odd whopper or several thousand.

No doubt god appears to be the ultimate placebo. Always been a problem for more critical thinkers though, much of it just sounds so ridiculous. Wonder if the effects will be lasting?

Have you really thought this anxiety issue through though? I'm not sure it could get any more peaceful than oblivion. Sadly, I believe there is an afterlife of sorts. Not in any religious sense of cute cuddly little souls and all things sugar and spice/heaven or anything. I think science will understand it one day.

Anyway, will keep checking to see how it goes.

Originally posted by Cogito, Ergo Sum
reply to post by AdamLaw

 

Fascinating experiment. Can't wait to hear more as you go along.

I doubt there is anything wrong with lying from god's perspective. After all, read the bible, he's been known to tell the odd whopper or several thousand.

No doubt god appears to be the ultimate placebo. Always been a problem for more critical thinkers though, much of it just sounds so ridiculous. Wonder if the effects will be lasting?

Have you really thought this anxiety issue through though? I'm not sure it could get any more peaceful than oblivion. Sadly, I believe there is an afterlife of sorts. Not in any religious sense of cute cuddly little souls and all things sugar and spice/heaven or anything. I think science will understand it one day.

Anyway, will keep checking to see how it goes.

edit on 20-10-2012 by Cogito, Ergo Sum because: for the heck of it.

Hi friend, sadly without the divine I do not see how there could be an afterlife. I think this is why I am so afraid of death. If I could bring myself to believe that there is truly an afterlife and a God, It sure would make my life easier. From the moment I die, I must say it will not matter really, but while I was alive, this lie would have eased my mind.

Yes I have thought about it. The only way I can see any sort of afterlife for me without divine/souls etc.. Is if the Universe would be eternal and infinite, which does not seem to be the case. Due to the nature of the Doppler effect/dark energy and the second law of thermodynamics I am afraid that the Universe will not be able to sustain life for eternity. BUT if it were the case, if the universe was eternal and infinite, this would be different. It would mean that eventually, (now the odds of this must be around 1 to more than a googleplex ) but yes, eventually , all the atoms making who I am who I am could eventually reform again making me alive again. The only problem is that all of the past history of earth would have to happen again I think. So I doubt It is going to happen. But there is so much going on about parallel dimensions/universe right now in physics that maybe we could prove that there is non physical versions of ourselves living in other dimensions. Ill stop now before I end up writing a full page of what a lot of people would call non sense.

Have you experienced a conviction of sin?

Originally posted by guitarplayer
Have you experienced a conviction of sin?

What is that ? Feeling guilt after sinning or the fact that my life has gone to total # many times in my life?

reply to post by chr0naut

Originally posted by chr0naut
If it isn't God, then why would Evolution have produced a brain that is capable of giving you a good feeling about religious pursuits? What functional purpose would it serve?

Probably the same reason it feels good to buy a lottery ticket—we are hopeful—but, we both know the odds of winning.

What is the practical reason for believing everything we have read and are told? Because it's too difficult to do the work ourselves and to come to our own conclusions. We're lazy.

Originally posted by EnochWasRight
reply to post by AdamLaw

 

If you follow my instructions and read the article on Glass and Ceramic, realize the truth behind your thread: You are ceramic with a false facade of flesh.

We are not jars. This is not truth.

reply to post by AdamLaw


I applaud you for having an open mind and good experimental creativity you got going on

I tend to shy away from the "God" debate, but seeing as you are a atheist performing a "God experiment" I feel safe offering my view.

I see "God", "The Creator", (or what ever concept you feel comfortable naming with your mind) "_________" as Love. Replace the concept your mind just created and instead feel Love inside your being. To me THAT is "God", extend that to yourself and others here on planet earth and more than likely your life (at least your emotional life) and people around will improve immensely.

We as humans have gotten to wrapped up in labels. The mind loves to label things, as a consequence we look at "God" through these labels instead of through our heart. Looking through labels we feel attacked because someone does not agree with our version of God. The label has become where we now derive our sense of "self" from, and if someone attacks that "self" we retaliate. See RELIGION, a concept made by the mind.

Look at life and others through your heart, not some silly label our mind created. Just my humble opinion!

Fun thread and enjoyable read, thank you.

interesting thread. I like the approach you took.

IMO you are feeling many effects both mental and physiological that are making you more empowered to feel good about life. Spirituality has that effect on you and those around you, they will pick up on it. I am glad you are finding something that works. Whether it is Christianity, Buddhism, or what ever...It is good to explore the other side of things. Keep it up and let us know if you do have a "god" moment.

Best of luck!

Originally posted by TheSubversiveOne

Originally posted by EnochWasRight
reply to post by AdamLaw

 

If you follow my instructions and read the article on Glass and Ceramic, realize the truth behind your thread: You are ceramic with a false facade of flesh.

We are not jars. This is not truth.

"Be not arrogant because of that which you know; deal with the ignorant as with the learned; for the barriers of art are not closed, no artist being in possession of the perfection to which he should aspire. But good words are more difficult to find than the emerald, for it is by slaves that that is discovered among the rocks of pegmatite." PtahHotep

Truth is rarely just sitting there, laying on the ground for you to pick up. The gardener must suffer the hoe.

reply to post by EnochWasRight


I would prefer if you speak for yourself rather than quote a dead man. If you are unable to argue using your own words, you might as well just say so.

Preachers of death should have more than just old quotes from an ancient time to back up their dogmas.

Originally posted by TheSubversiveOne
reply to post by EnochWasRight

 

I would prefer if you speak for yourself rather than quote a dead man. If you are unable to argue using your own words, you might as well just say so.

Preachers of death should have more than just old quotes from an ancient time to back up their dogmas.

edit on 23-10-2012 by TheSubversiveOne because: (no reason given)

I don't quote the man, I show his intellect.

How's the experiment going?

Convinced yourself of anything yet, allayed any fears, at least partly?

Originally posted by AdamLaw

Originally posted by guitarplayer
Have you experienced a conviction of sin?

What is that ? Feeling guilt after sinning or the fact that my life has gone to total # many times in my life?

He cannot bring anyone to repentance - extreme sorrow - until you are convicted of sin. Before any meaningful change will take place in your life there has to first be an awareness of sin and a desire for repentance. It is what Enoch was preparing you for - you will be cut to the quick as His Spirit leads you to understand how far apart you are from His Truth. It is what produces transformation. It brings anguish, tears and heartfelt understanding if you leave yourself open to receiving it. He knows your heart and your intentions with this 'experiment' of yours. He has nothing to prove to you for He has already given this world proof, so with this in mind, I hope that the love of Truth is considered valuable to you and that it is what you truly seek. Our Father's desire is that all will be saved, but sadly, most will find the love of lies more exciting and carnally fun than reconciling with their Creator who commands obedience and sovereignty. The world has tipped now in favour of rejecting His Salvation, so I pray that He gives you the strength and faith necessary to not only start a true journey but to run the good race.

Originally posted by AdamLaw
That is my point exactly. If it is indeed a lie that makes me feel better, then what is the problem believing in a lie? And if it is not a lie, then God is real.

Win-win

edit on 18-10-2012 by AdamLaw because: (no reason given)

Hi,

Interesting Statement, not Fully Unique , but decent thinking none the less.

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