I think there are two issues at play when it comes to God communicating to
the faithful. A high school friend of mine used to attend a Pentecostal
church that was very charismatic. Speaking in tongues was a regular part of
their worship service. In fact, it became so common in their church that
people sort of expected you to speak in tongues if you were one of the
faithful. And, amazingly, almost 100% of the church was gifted by God with
the ability to speak in tongues.
If you are someone who is insane, mumbling, hearing voices, and losing your
tenuous grasp on reality, then a religious environment like this might give
you a sense of community and belonging that would be difficult to find
elsewhere.
For those who spoke in tongues, I think of it more as somebody who makes
themselves look at the clouds for hours and then, magically, they begin to
see the clouds take the shapes of ponies and dragons. At some point, if you
listen hard enough, you will hear what you want to hear even if the voice of
God is an only an echo inside your own head.
Carter
"Christina Line" <tina_line@fish.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3f1eff0e$0$18491$cc9e4d1f@news.dial.pipex.com...
You mean the religious are more tolerant of the insane because it is
familiar to their way of thinking?
I must admit that I am now quite wary of my more charismatic friends
saying
that God has communicated with them, having experienced a really strong
and
bizarre experience of it. For a while I was very wary of praying for fear
of
what I would hear. Even now I just wonder how much spiritual truth was in
it
and how much was illness.
I think on balance that illness affects our ability to receive the real
spiritual messages, leading to distortion and false signals.
I think it would be very arrogant of me to extrapolate from my illness and
say that all good Christians are in fact a little insane. Just because my
brain chemicals weren't functioning doesn't mean theirs aren't.
Tina
"cartercathey" <cartercathey@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:BGmTa.111113$wk6.29269@rwcrnsc52.ops.asp.att.net...
I would take it a different way and say that those inclined to be insane
can
find some comfort and support in the magical and fantastic world of
heavenly
forces, demonic powers, etc. They are also able to, for a time, find
supporters within the faith that regard their behavior as extreme
devotion
to the divine.
It is much harder to blend in when you rubbing yourself with feces and
worshiping Elmo.
Carter
"Christina Line" <tina_line@fish.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3f1da328$0$15036$cc9e4d1f@news.dial.pipex.com...
We didn't get that far in the conversation in the common room... are
you
saying
atheists (as opposed to agnostics) are naturally more balanced?
I did meet several modern witches in there...
Would a mind naturally inclined to be credulous and/or impressionable
be
more prone to
mental illness? I think you are being prejudiced. Mental illness is a
matter
of
brain chemicals. The _form_ it takes might be different but I submit
that
even the most rational of us are vulnerable to brain chemical
malfunction.
Tina
"robert parker" <robpardelete@airmail.net> wrote in message
news:3f1f8ef7.15249417@news.airmail.net...
On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 21:51:49 +0100, "Christina Line"
<tina_line@fish.co.uk> wrote:
I think you have to have a pre-existing religious bent to have a
religious
side to the episode - the non religious people I met in hospital
tended
to
have delusions either that they were
watched by the government or that they were royalty.
Were any of them atheist? My wifes college room mate became a
psychiatrist, works for the state mental service. She doesn`t
remember having a atheist for a patient.
.
