How can you distinguish between a vision and a dream?

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St.Joseph was to care for Mary and the Son of God. He knew tt was a message from God delivered by an angel. One cannot compare anyone else to St. Joseph. God bless
 
I think the real question is" If we receive a message from heaven in a dream , like Joseph did, how can we tell if it was a real message from heaven or just a dream
 
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I think if God communicates to us in a dream He gives us the certainty that it was real. How He deoes that:thinking:🤔

I think I got it! Maybe St. Joseph was special in that he was able to see God’s providence but not consciously. He wasn’t aware that he was seeing God’s providence subconsciously. This is kind of what dreams do sometimes naturally. Make us aware of things we didn’t know we knew. When God operates in our dream maybe He shows us His Divine Provision with such comprehension and clarity that we experience it as supernatural… We know it wasn’t natural dreaming but a supernatural dream. Perhaps the angel visited Joseph while he was awake but he wasn’t conscious of it. The dream made him aware of what he only knew subconsciously. Just a thought
 
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There may be different opinions. In our spirituality, this is basically under the Charismatic gift of prophecy where God sometimes communicates to us His message. He can do that in words, visions or dreams, usually in that order of occurances.

We cannot be one hundred percent sure it is from God but in faith we can take it as such if the message fullfils certain criteria especially if it is not from the Evil One.

This process is called discernment of the Spirit, which is a gift in itself. Not everybody has this gift though, not even the clergy. Also experience in this area does help too.

More importantly, if it is really from God, there would be always confirmation. For example, others people receive similar messages or perhaps by signs. God will not let us in doubt if He is to give us the message.
 
Edit: Usually it is under a control situation where we are seeking God, like in worship or prayers. God’s promise is when we seek Him, He will not abandon us. When we are faithful to Him, He will be faithful to us. If we surrender our lives to Him to leave the worldly attractions, we will get closer to Him by the power of the Holy Spirit.

There are hosts of relevant factors that go along with it.
 
Reuben_J said:
We cannot be one hundred percent sure it is from God but in faith we can take it as such if the message fullfils certain criteria especially if it is not from the Evil One.
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Yeah, certain elements in the dream that confirm that the dream is not a deception.
Reuben_J said:
if it is really from God, there would be always confirmation. For example, others people receive similar messages or perhaps by signs. God will not let us in doubt if He is to give us the message.
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This is Key imo.

It could be problematic and it seems to me if the message is private concerning your own life it’s not a problem but if it is a message to be received by many…yeah how many people are confident of a message when it isn’t God making them confident? Like you said though discernment.
 
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Yes, the degree of the importance of the message depends on what it is.

If it is a simple personal encouraging message like asking one to pray, it is probably harmless enough. In fact one can discern it by oneself. It’s a matter of being obedient to it, which is always a good thing anyway, except that being from God it will give greater power especially for growth.

But if it is a directive message like asking one to move to another town, it probably needs greater required tangible confirmation.

If the message is for the community, which is rare, the more discernment and confrmation is required.
 
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I had a dream a long time ago. I had applied to get an apartment that was frankly beyond my means. If I wanted to eat and live there. I had been called to their office to meet them the next day.

That night I had a dream that I was in the ladies office and she was denying my application. The dream was very clear and vivid with details. The walls the curtains the decore, the lady and the way she spoke. I began protesting in a way not characteristic of me. I wanted the apartment more than I knew. I was ashamed of my behavior in the dream and I resolved to not act that way if the dream came true. When I went into the office I noticed it was the same but no big deal I had been in there once before. But when she started to speak to me…the same way she spoke in the dream…the same words…the exact same feelings began rising within me…and I began behaving exactly as I did in the dream. To the very same protests came out of my mouth and not in any way different. I foresaw behavior I was ashamed of , I resolved to not act that way…I had no power to do what I willed even while I was willing it.

The law in my members fought against my will and won .Not even a contest. The dream reminded me I was weak. and powerless. Who will save me from this body of death? Jesus Christ My God and Savior! That was a lesson because I thought my will was stronger than my flesh. I learned that I needed Grace.
 
I think that was a really blessed experience for you.

If it comes from God, it will edify you in some ways. It will not discourage nor bring you down. God loves us and we are His children and by our belief and acceptance of Him, He will raise us up.

God bless.
 
Amen. Thank you Reuben_J. for that conversation. till next time Peace
 
So the queation was how to distinguish between a vision and a dream, and there really was no good answer other than maybe, the church has to validate it. so exactly what is the process to have the church validate / or differiate between a vision and dream an exactly how many priests does one go to before he finds one that will believe the person and not dismiss the person as mentally ill.
 
From the Church experience and perhaps history, what is more common is vision - Fatima, Mejudgorie, etc, where the visionaries can see the vision but others cannot. These are private revelations and usually need to be approved by the local Bishop for the vision to have any legitimacy.

Dreams on the other hand, as been shared by our posters in CAF, are just dream by the person concerned but with some spiritual element. I don’t think any priest needs to do anything to this other than to give advice, if the ‘dreamer’ want to seek further advice. Otherwise, the person just can keep it to himself.

As been said, if the dream or vision is thought to come from a God, it will not stop there but a series of confirmation would usually follow where people cannot ignore it anymore. Perhaps here the clergy would probably be involved in the discernment.

Short of that, vision or dream can be just personal revelation and experience, if nothing more comes by way of confirmation.
 
Vision when you are awake; dream when you sleep and is long; dream vision when you sleep and briefly like day-time vision. Except apparition visions are long.

Prophetic or pre-recognition message is the flash vision or dream vision, briefly within a second, bright, high definition like 100 MP picture or perfect eye sight.

Very difficult to interpret the prophetic dream. They have indirect meanings. So any dream sayings and all other visions, except at apparition sites, are likely the products of evils, low level spirits, witch or magician or alike. The earth have billions or trillions of dreams and visions a day in deed.

Blessing.
 
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Reuben_J said:
We cannot be one hundred percent sure it is from God but in faith we can take it as such if the message fullfils certain criteria especially if it is not from the Evil One.
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Is there a official document of the church regarding this or is it left to the private conservation with one´s priest?
 
There is another kind of dream vision that you become a part of the dream lively, and few more higher levels of vision. When you see you would know it is from God.
One of them is time-travel vision to see Jesus infant at Bethlehem and what sign to make peasants to believe Jesus is God at once.
 
Hi. In that post I was referring to a certain practice to discern prophecy which can come either in words, visions and dreams or a combination of them. So no, no official document of the Church as far as I know. And yes, they are private revelations for the upbuilding of oneself or the community.
 
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