I consider myself firmly Christian, but I’m more likely to be perceived as agnostic in my conversations around religion - especially here.
My faith is based on subjective experience, not objective ones. It wouldn’t make any sense at all from my perspective to expect anyone else to believe based solely on my word.
Thanks for sharing. There's a time and place for belief based on subjective experience. That's nearly all the time, but many don't accept that :)
The idea that people shouldn't take you at your own word in order to accept your belief is interesting, though. The religion was pretty much word of mouth for most of its spread. Why not from you?
This is most definitely not snarky. You piqued my interest and I try to work out my doctrine with fear and trembling ;)
Do you mind sharing your subjective experience? Just quickly. I've heard some really weird stories and often wonder if these people are just extrapolating normal events in their head into communication with God, so I like to hear em
There have been multiple in my life, but one that stands out to me was actually when I was only about two years old. My grandfather had a bad heart attack and wasn’t expected to live more than a few weeks; my family moved across the country for him to spend his last days with his children. A year later, he had (unexpectedly) recovered. My mother and grandparents wanted to move back to where I am now, but had no way to do so - no vehicle, no money and no job waiting for them back here.
My grandmother prayed for God to provide a way for them to get back home. The next morning she received a letter informing them that their bid on a Corps of Engineers contract to maintain a park had been accepted. They’d be paid quarterly, and the first check was enclosed. It was enough to buy a truck, a camp trailer to live in, and make the move.
No one had submitted a bid - no one was even familiar with the process or the position. I would be the first to propose that someone in the family bid on their behalf, but they later learned that the bid had both my grandparents’ signatures on it. My grandfather was in the hospital when the bid was submitted, and my grandmother maintained that she’d never seen the paper before getting a check in the mail for the rest of her life.
(Sorry for intruding into the conversation, and thank you for sharing your experience).
First thing I thought about was they might have applied and just forgot (I registered "grandfather"/"grandmother" as older people, though now I realize it might not have been so, as you were a two year old, so they might as well have been into their forties).
