if i were to?

Question

start telling people that god was speaking to me and commanding me to do this or that i would be locked away and put under medication so why should i believe that the people in biblical times were not just mentaly ill and that those around them had no knowledge of such illnesses?

Answer 1

It depends on how you went about it. There are plenty of examples of people who claim that they are in communication with a supreme being. Some examples, David Koresh, Jim Jones, The Pope, The LDS Prophet, to name just a few. If you notice, these good folks have gotten quite different results form espousing their believes. Most people would agree that Koresh and Jones are nut cases. Funny thing is that it is quite easy to proof that Joseph Smith (LDS founding prophet) was a con man and a huckster. Try convincing the millions of Mormons of this, damned near impossible. There is a mountain of evidence, yet dyed in the wool Mormons just overlook it. Is there a shred of evidence that the Pope has God's ear? Yet millions of Catholics will tell you he does. It's all very strange to me. With these modern day examples to draw from, and their obvious unreliability, why would you trust the word of some ignorant peasants that lived over 2000 years ago? You see, you don't have to be mentally ill, people will believe anything, if you sound good enough.

Answer 2

I think you make a good point. The point can also be made that the people in power made such claims, which is why they weren't locked away. But we've seen recently that people in power make extremely false claims (like George Bush's multiple false claims related to Iraq and Saddam Hussein before the invasion and occupation of Iraq). So just because the people were in positions of power doesn't make their claims any more reliable or true than if they were just everyday psychos.

Answer 3

Mental illness in the USA was not defined until the last 50 years and unfortunately it chose to ignore that the soul must be filled in order for the mind to be healed. Because of this "scientific" oversight, yes, you would be locked away as a lunatic, when in fact all you need is someone to guide you to the Lord and fill your soul and then the mental issues, other than those that are legitimate chemical imbalances due to a varied means of malfunctions, will find themselves healed of the illnesses that beset them. As our soul's needs are satisfied, the body becomes satisfied. As our longing for Christ so satiates our life, our service for him, takes away the things that seem to occupy us to the point that we are "mentally ill." I've battled this ground for several years as I have finally had to accept the depression that overtakes me is not because of a lack of Jesus in my soul and the outpouring of what I do for him, but a legitimate imbalance of the wiring in my brain - of which a brain tumor has intensified. So, I believe that when we chose to label mental illnesses as such we took away legitimate concerns for demon possession (not hollywood style) but Biblical style, and took away the ability to fill the soul that these may be made whole without a bunch of drugs that clutter up the bodies natural defenses and mind.

Answer 4

if you were to do that, you can make "some people" believe you for "some time" & you might be able to put up your own "cult" following.

anyway, about certain people in biblical times doing that, you are free to believe or not to believe them... no person can force you to...

its either you believe, you don't believe, you don't care, you have not heard about them, you don't know what to do with them, or we go back above & you can put up a new belief system that you would want other people to believe in...

Answer 5

In every group & setting, there are the believers & there are the skeptics. From religion to electronics to medicine to the arts.
What makes you think that G-d doesn't speak to people who participate here...on the YA's site?
I would guess they don't blurt out that they hear from G-d; so as not to cast their gifts before people who would trample them underfoot, but they quietly sit back & wait & discern legitimate seekers with genuine questions, & they then respond from their experiences.
Just as there are some legitimate psychics, there are legitimate people who have fine-tuned ears to the voice of G-d.

Answer 6

Because some of the could just stop your heart if you did not listen to them.

And let me ask you this hypo.
Man a clams that God is speaking to him, you see Man b go to lock this idiot up! Man a looks at Man b and Man b begins to melt kind of horridly eyes fall out of sockets, skin and blood pools at his feet an he dies.
Man a turns to you and says will you listen to me?

What do you say, do?

Answer 7

Sawyer hit the nail right on the head. Spot on.
God does speak to us in a variety of ways.

Answer 8

if u said u r messenger of God people would probably ask u for a miracle & then the fact that u would not provide one would proof that u r a fraud

Answer 9

because God actually told them to do those things and had the power to back them up, u on the other hand would have...?

Answer 10

Your probably right
Tammi Dee