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confusing God with ID

post #1 of 17
11/14/07 at 2:22pm
Thread Starter 
I was flipping the channels this morning and landed on one of the morning religious shows where the host was talking about how God talks to her and this and that.


I firmly believe that these people that think God is talking to them, are confusing that inner voice with ID. So much so that I feel these people get a disconnection between personal conviction and choice and place it firmly on "God". If things get fucked in their life, they say, "That was God's will". And don't take any responsibility for their own actions.
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post #2 of 17
11/14/07 at 2:35pm
ID has nothing to do with it. People who claim to talk to "God" fall into two categories:

A) Those lying about talking to "God" to either make a buck off of others, or consolidating/justifying actions in political power. This category is monopolized by Televangelists and various World leaders.

B) Schizophrenics.


Others may claim to occasionally talk to "God", but will admit that he doesn't talk back.
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post #3 of 17
11/14/07 at 2:36pm
I really thought you were going to talk about confusing God with intelligent design, which would have resulted in a pretty solid flaming.

I will say that in my experience, your last sentence doesn't really hold up. I mostly see people ascribe all the good in their life to God's Will, and the bad decisions they make to human weakness. Obviously this may not hold up in times of intense tragedy, but it's certainly what I've generally seen.
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post #4 of 17
11/14/07 at 2:40pm
Thread Starter 
Of course.

I just had this thought this morning. I'm not a psychologist expert, but the inner discussion I think is often confused as God in people that I would label as fanatically religious.
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post #5 of 17
11/14/07 at 3:27pm
When you talk to God it's praying. When God talks to you, you're crazy.
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post #6 of 17
11/14/07 at 3:51pm
Strange things happen and no doubt some people can chalk it up to 'talking to God', but more often than not, I think people use it as an excuse before they do something horrible. "God told me to kill this person." and the like. Other times, I think people are so devoted that they whip themselves up into a hysteria or so want to believe that they make themselves believe.
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post #7 of 17
11/14/07 at 4:05pm
Thread Starter 
If I was studying to be a psychologist I would write my thesis on this. Like Death Surge mentions, it could possibly be a form of Schizophrenia or emerging MPD.
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post #8 of 17
11/14/07 at 4:17pm
My wife is a psychologist, and there's a notorious connection between schizophrenia and religious zealotry as a result. Essentially, as the chemical imbalances that cause the majority of schizophrenia cases occur, misdirected nervious system inputs result in visual and auditory responses (i.e. "voices in my head") occuring. Based on prior religious indoctrination, it becomes the "logical" explanation that the brain locks on to as a mechanism to deal with the hallucinogenic states. The more religious the person was, the greater the link up, so "God" or "The Devil" are adopted as the force behind the voices. The result is you get a woman who puts her children in an oven because "God" said they were demons.

Historically, Muhammad suffered from fits where he directly spoke with "Allah". The descriptions of these fits would today be diagnosed as epileptic seizures inducing schizophrenic reactions.
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post #9 of 17
11/14/07 at 4:56pm
My bathroom wall gets a conversation with God every time I come home drunk.
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post #10 of 17
11/14/07 at 5:17pm
I agree that it probably happens often, but I think there is another reason people are drawn to this conclusion; for many people it is a saner answer than the possibility that you have more than one unitary voice in your head. If you've been raised to assume that God exists and loves you and that only crazy people have multiple 'personalities' within themselves, it's probably a less stressful idea that God talked to you rather than you talked to yourself. If you've been raised to lead an unexamined life, the first time you do so it might be weird.
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post #11 of 17
11/14/07 at 9:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Minsky
Regarding prayer:

I was watching the news the other night (NBC Nightly, I believe), and they start talking about the Atlanta drought. They spend a few good minutes covering the mayor's formal request to God to "please let it rain."

You know what? I can understand that. I guess the mayor's a spiritual guy, and praying is probably a cathartic thing to do when you're out of options.
What other options did they exercise in the attempt to make it rain?

Quote:
"The governor prayed for God's intervention, as this is Georgia's most severe drought in decades. If prayer doesn't work, it's pretty clear that the state is running out of options..."

IF PRAYER DOESN'T WORK? What? So, on the "off chance" that begging your deity for rain doesn't work, Georgia's really in trouble? What in the hell kind of dark ages, head-up-your-ass statement was that?
A typical one.
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post #12 of 17
11/14/07 at 10:19pm
My ID thinks I'm God, is that the same thing?
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post #13 of 17
11/14/07 at 11:32pm
I misread the thread title as "confusing God with JD" and thought it was about Scrubs obsession.
Billy, in your first point, you mention Gods Will being blamed for all the shit in life. What I find even more irritating is that the middle of the road religious people blame God's will for shittyness, but don't acknowledge it for good things. Pretty hateful God in their eyes if you ask me. At least the hard-core crazies are consistent and contribute everything to a power out of their control.
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post #14 of 17
11/15/07 at 5:06am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Graynadian
My ID thinks I'm God, is that the same thing?
Just reversed, I guess.

You should seek counseling immediately. Or form your own religion.
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post #15 of 17
11/15/07 at 5:33am
One time I heard voices in my head and thought it was God, but it turned out that it was just the amazing effects of having slipped over in my bathroom the night before while comically trying on pantyhose. I was not hearing God, but was hearing women's thought - I quite literally knew "what women want".
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post #16 of 17
11/15/07 at 12:29pm
I guess I'm either crazy or a TV evangelist, when I pray I consider that I'm "talking to God". I don't hear voices, or pretend that I'm having some kind of direct conversation, but that's really what prayer is all about, and I guess we're all crazy!
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post #17 of 17
11/15/07 at 12:34pm
Thread Starter 
I heard voices the other day. But I soon found out it was the cellphone in my bedroom. It kept telling me, "I got mail! Yeah!".
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