You can't feel God's presence
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- Published on Tuesday, 13 September 2011 06:40
- Written by John Draper
- Hits: 1812
Have you ever felt lucky? You are at a casino and think: this next spin is a winner - perhaps because you've been losing so the streak "has to end". Or maybe you are playing a card game and you "just know" that your current hand is good. Or maybe you know that the job interview you just had was a winner - it just "felt right". It's a mix of optimism and a good feeling - sometimes called a "hunch". If you pay attention, you'll notice that you don't "feel" the right answer correctly any more often than it would otherwise have happened. "Feeling good" about what's about to happen really means nothing. The same is true about any other feelings about what's happening such as "feeling the spirit move you" or "feeling the presence of god". They are simply not an indicator of anything other than you feel good! There is no actual connection with reality even though we'd like there to be. Yet people will talk about such feelings as an indication and even proof that a god exists - these people "just know" there is a God. They might even "feel the love of Jesus".
It's perfectly natural and common for humans to have feelings and to have an imagination. So it's hardly surprising that these are connected and we feel the presence of an imaginary being. Let's face it, unless it's physical like heat or cold, what you feel proves nothing about reality.
Feelings are emotions, they are part of what our brains do. Some feelings are useful - being attached to someone or even an intense form, loving someone, will be mutually beneficial in supporting each other. Again, it's not surprising if we extend that to others, even imaginary gods. Now the fact that this can happen does not disprove the existence of a god who loves you - it just means that such feelings do not prove anything.
Sometimes, we can feel very warm and contented as if we are being protected by someone invisible - it's natural to want to call this protector God. But this is because we want such a thing so we imagine it - much like we "feel lucky". Another related feeling is the hope we feel when we've bought a lottery ticket but before we find out that we've not won the jackpot. We sort of "feel lucky" - in this case, it's better described as "hey there's a chance - and life would be good if it came to pass". But for a while, we feel good. It's almost as if our brains know we like this so feed our hopes. (Sorry about being un-scientific!).
If God were to speak to us with a loud voice from the sky, and it was recorded on a computer, then we could safely say that God had communicated with us. Mind you, these days, why wouldn't he take over a TV channel or simultaneously send everyone in the world an email or text message - I'm told he could do that if he wanted. This kind of communication could be described as tangible and real. But I know, God doesn't work like that. I wonder why?
The feeling of God's prescence isn't like any of those other feelings you mentioned. It's realy a belief in the prescence of a loving God which then leads to the normal human feelings that you get when believing yourself to be loved ie peace joy and love in return.
The belief, ie the gift of faith, usually comes about after a person opens their life up to the possibility that there may actually be a loving God that wants to know and live in them. Then after a prayer, at some point, faith is experienced as a gift and not something that the individual has brought upon themselves. It is not a temporary feeling but something much deeper and enduring.