Religious experience.. or not?

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LemonAndLime

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This is kinda embarassing asking about this as I’ve never talked about it before.

My boyfriend was asking me for “proof” that, to me, God exists. In other words, why I believe. At first I talked about the concept of faith itself - doesn’t need proof, but that wasn’t enough. So I talked about a feeling of peace whenever I prayed or went to Church. But then I remembered something I had forgotten about.

When I was about 14, I suddenly started to think about my beliefs. It was the beginning of a long process that lead to me joining the Catholic Church this year. Anyway, I made a prayer - my first since I was a young girl - promising to God that I was going to try my best. In particular, spend less time on chat rooms which I was beginning to realise were harmful to me. And then all of a sudden I felt a huge feeling of euphoria that drowned out all other feelings and thoughts. Not sure if I “blacked out” or not, as I was laying down about to go to sleep so chances are my eyes may have been closed already. Can’t remember that for sure though.

I kinda forgot about it, but I mentioned it to my boyfriend and he said it was a seizure. :confused: He looks after people with learning disabilities, and he said that when they have seizures sometimes they’re enjoyable and feel good to the patients. Not necessarily sexual, just a huge feeling of happiness.

Now I’m not sure what to think. Certainly the suggestion that it was a seizure sounds convincing enough for me to question whether or not it was a religious experience. But then, the implications of my boyfriend being right… surely if it was a medical problem, it would have happened again?

Please keep responses sensitive. I’m being open about this now but like I said this is kind of embarassing for me to talk about. 😦 Especially as my boyfriend seemed to think it was a little amusing that I thought it could have been a religious experience.
 
Atheists (which I’m guessing that’s what your boyfriend is) have a way of making your faith and religious experiences seem false. You know the Truth, don’t let them persuade you. If you ask me, this was definitely a religious experience. I’ve has similar experiences myself and I feel there is no doubt that the Holy Spirit was stirring inside me at the moment.

God bless!
 
I’m no expert, but it seems like a bit of a leap to go from ‘you felt a euphoria’ to ‘it was a seizure’. If you had no physical symptoms and haven’t had anything like it again, I would doubt very much it was a seizure. Even aside from religious experience, it could just be a perfectly normal psychological reaction.

Whether it was a religious experience isn’t something others are really qualified to judge but there is no reason what you experienced could not have been religious. You were praying, trying to get rid of harmful things in your life, it could have been you realised (perhaps subconsciously) that you were coming towards God and it was a spiritual reaction. Sometimes being close to God does that.

Religious experiences are very personal and others may not necessarily understand them, not even necessarily just the non-religious. Don’t be embarrassed by it just because other don’t understand. :hug3:
 
You could reply by saying: “Do you love me? Or are you just having a seizure?”
 
If it was a seizure, then wouldn’t you have not remembered it? I would think so.
 
I have found that no matter how profound of an experience one may have, the Lord leaves room for faith…
 
leestrobel.com/channels/CFChrist.php

Go to above link and read about the book The Case for Christ, which was written by an atheist to prove the facts against JESUS. Instead it converted him.

Not sure it will have the same affect on your boyfriend, but it does address “the evidence” from a purely secular position.
 
Doesn’t sound like any seizure to me. Not at all.

:twocents:
 
I do not doubt that God was speaking to you that day. Religious experiences really vary and it is not always a case of being blinded and falling of a horse. Sometimes it is a realisation of something that sinks in and you know for sure it did not come from you. Or a feeling of happiness.

People who have no religious faith always have a ready ‘explanation’ that it was probably - maybe - certainly something medical or scientific… or something. 😉 Don’t worry about that. I doubt that you can convince your boyfriend about the existence of God. Live like a Christian and let him see for himself what that does for you and how it will change you for the better. It is always the case that we grow as people when we grow in faith and allow God to be in charge. And people notice and wonder.
 
Read this website (preferably in private):
catholictradition.org/Mary/green-scapular.htm

Its about the Green Scapular.
I would suggest that it’s something to consider to help you and your boyfriend grow in faith.

I have to laugh at atheists, it seems to me that they’re so caught up in preaching to everyone about how God doesn’t exist it almost becomes a sort of religion for them…

Just trust in divine providence and pray for your boyfriend, be steady and firm in your faith. He’ll come around eventually, even if its a long time coming.

I’d also encourage the use of this sacramental, basically you hide it somewhere around the person or get them to wear it and say the prayer for them.
Be sure to get it blessed by a priest, and have faith!

In brief these are the promises for those who use the scapular.
Promises/Benefits
  1. Conversion of those who do not have the faith
  2. Reconciliation to the Church for those who have lost/strayed from the faith
  3. Assurance of a happy death
  4. Strengthening of the faith for those already in the Church
  5. Protection from Satan for those who wear or promote the scapular
 
Thank you everyone for your kind responses. 🙂 I have read all of the replies and I’m sorry that I do not have the time to respond to each individually.

I always thought it was from God, but unfortunately after that experience there was a time that I rejected Christ, so I forgot all about it, but even then that experience made me constantly question myself - it definately felt like the Holy Spirit, if you know what I mean. It was something special to hold onto once I began my conversion. So the suggestion that it was a seizure… it kind of rubbished what I felt, made me question my memory. And that was deeply personal to me. Not an attack, he meant no harm - but… yeah.

Thanks for the suggestion of the green scapular by the way, and the book. Both seem like useful resources and once I’ve finished cooking my tea (and then eating it!) I’ll look up both.
 
trmyjs said:
Atheists (which I’m guessing that’s what your boyfriend is) have a way of making your faith and religious experiences seem false. You know the Truth, don’t let them persuade you. !
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i agree…even the saints had doubters about their religious experiences…theres always gonna be somebody who doubts…just keep believing:thumbsup:
 
LemonAndLime said:
This is kinda embarassing asking about this as I’ve never talked about it before.

My boyfriend was asking me for “proof” that, to me, God exists. In other words, why I believe. At first I talked about the concept of faith itself - doesn’t need proof, but that wasn’t enough. So I talked about a feeling of peace whenever I prayed or went to Church. But then I remembered something I had forgotten about.

When I was about 14, I suddenly started to think about my beliefs. It was the beginning of a long process that lead to me joining the Catholic Church this year. Anyway, I made a prayer - my first since I was a young girl - promising to God that I was going to try my best. In particular, spend less time on chat rooms which I was beginning to realise were harmful to me. And then all of a sudden I felt a huge feeling of euphoria that drowned out all other feelings and thoughts. Not sure if I “blacked out” or not, as I was laying down about to go to sleep so chances are my eyes may have been closed already. Can’t remember that for sure though.

I kinda forgot about it, but I mentioned it to my boyfriend and he said it was a seizure. :confused: He looks after people with learning disabilities, and he said that when they have seizures sometimes they’re enjoyable and feel good to the patients. Not necessarily sexual, just a huge feeling of happiness.

Now I’m not sure what to think. Certainly the suggestion that it was a seizure sounds convincing enough for me to question whether or not it was a religious experience. But then, the implications of my boyfriend being right… surely if it was a medical problem, it would have happened again?

Please keep responses sensitive. I’m being open about this now but like I said this is kind of embarassing for me to talk about. 😦 Especially as my boyfriend seemed to think it was a little amusing that I thought it could have been a religious experience.
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It’s easy for him, or anyone else for that matter, to speculate, but do you think, if the same experience had happened to him, that he would’ve considered it to be a seizure then?
 
LemonAndLime;7923248 said:
I think it was a feeling of euphoria, and it was meant for you, not your boyfriend. In the long run, I suspect you might need to get a new boyfriend … (but that’s just my opinion).

I’ve had a number of spiritual experiences, but the one which is relevant to his particular discussion is how I met my wife. I’d already been through one marriage, which was a disaster (I blame myself, nobody else, with perhaps the ground being laid by my father, but that’s another story).

However after about nine years as a Christian (celibate), I was getting a bit restive in my single state. So as usual I went to my old pastor for advice. His suggestion, was “Well, maybe you’ll go to a conference or something, and meet someone there…” So off I went to Conference this and Conference that trying to see if the magic female was going to appear. No dice.

I went back to the pastor and darkened his door again. “Oh” he said, a bit exasperated, "That’s not what I meant. I was thinking about a group like “Christians without Partners’…” But as soon as he said it, this feeling of joy hit me, clear as a bell. It was really effervescent, bubbling, and quite rapid. But I felt it. And I knew that’s where I should go.

Off I went. She wasn’t at the first meeting. So I went to the second meeting, and sure enough my attention was drawn to this particular lady.

About a year and a half later we were married.

The point is I knew because of the very clear sense of “Joy” which hit me. It was fleeting, and it was clear. But it wasn’t for anybody but myself (and my future wife in a sense, but that was down the track).

I’d say your experience was from God, and He was simply telling you He was pleased you’d turned over a new leaf. (“There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents …”).

It may or may not have an effect on your boyfriend. But it wasn’t given for his benefit. If he won’t listen to the truth, then that’s his problem. And the other thing is he’s being quite arrogant, asserting he knows your mind better than you do. This is a common attitude amongst hardline atheists - if I describe some of the things I’ve experienced for example, they’ll tell me “I’m off my meds”, or 'You were thinking along that line anyway", or “… whatever”. They seem to think they’re in a position to infallibly judge other people’s minds, even when they’ve never met them.
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