What does it mean to experience GOD?

Question

How do we know that an experience is God?

How do we define it?

Is experience of God more than a feeling? Is it out-of-the-ordinary experience, or is it something like love?

Does deep experience of God come only through meditation/prayer, or does it sometimes come unexpectedly, or in times of deep emotion?

For you, personally, what is experience of GOD?

**Serious answers, please; no anti-theist comments...Thanks =)

Answer 1

A profound question. Which means that the answer is going to be more difficult than others. And it includes several subordinate questions as well.

How do we know? We don't for sure. The existence of God cannot be proven so how can we know that any experience is one of God? In my NSHO, the experience is primary. It is the only thing we can really know. "God" is simply the explanation we give ourselves to try to put into some sort of context that we can relate to. This doesn't prove anything about the truth or wisdom of our explanations. It doesn't prove anything one way or another about the existence of God. That is what faith is for.

And faith is what makes the experience more than a feeling. We sometimes have experiences, realizations, intuitions that we choose to invest our confidence in, often we can't even say why. Perhaps because it makes us feel better about ourselves and/or about the universe we live in. I believe that an experience of God is anything that helps to make us better people. Then, whether it is real or an illusion, or even a delusion, we and those around us get benefit from it. The key is that it is a benefit, a blessing if you will, Those are the moments, the experiences we treasure.

I also believe that the truest divine experiences we have always must include love. Remember the great teaching, "God is love."

It can happen anytime at all. It can happen right where you are sitting now. God speaks more often, perhaps, to those who do not seek Him. To know the love of One whom you have not sought, who knows you better than you do yourself and who loves you despite all your faults is the most wonderful feeling in all existence. That is why we assume that only the Great Architect of the Universe could possibly give us such a feeling. This doesn't necessarily make it so, but since we can't know for sure, why not believe the answer that satisfies us best?

For me, my most personal and direct experience of God is of a "still, small voice" in the back of my mind, like a thought coming from outside myself that tells me things I would have no way of knowing otherwise. This always makes the hair on my neck stand up and gives me a cold chill running up my spine. This is a feeling of inexpressible awe and it doesn't frighten. It blesses. I can't vouch for the idea that everyone experiences God in that same way; in fact, I doubt it. The Bible speaks of that still, small voice and tells us that God is not in the storm or the earthquake or the lightning, but in that voice. In the Jewish tradition it is called, "the speaking silence." An oxymoron. In the lower studies of spiritual things, we must speak in parables and metaphors. In matters of the highest spirit only oxymorons will do.

Socrates said that he had a spirit that spoke inside his head and gave him good advice. I believe that this was what he was talking about. Jesus said that his Father spoke to him often. Paul said the spirit spoke to him constantly. What else could they have been talking about.

Behold, I tell you an anecdote (not a parable): There was a great Bible scholar named George Lamsa. He was born and raised in one of the very few 20th century Aramaic-speaking communities. Thus, his native language was the same language that the Jews spoke in the days of Jesus. On a plane trip one day, I have been told, he struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to him. When his fellow traveller asked Lamsa what he did for a living and was told he was a Bible student, he replied, "Oh, I'm sorry to have to say it, but I don't believe in God. I'm an astronomer." Lamsa said, "Let me ask you this. When you look through a telescope, what do you feel?"
The astronomer immediately started to explain about the structure of the solar system, the galaxy and the universe. "No, no," Lamsa told him, "you're telling me what you *know*. What I want to know is what you *feel*"

The astronomer paused to think and answered, "I guess what I *feel* is WOW!!!!!"

"Okay," said Lamsa, "*now* you're talking about God."

I hope this helps somewhat.

God knows I do rattle on.

Respectfully submitted,
Adastra, the Wizzard of Jacksonville

Answer 2

My experience of God has come in many ways, not dependant on meditation etc. God is real, He comes and goes as He pleases, It is much much more than just a feeling, for me it had the power to change things in my life that I was powerless to change and even things that needed changing that I was unaware of. When I say I've experienced God, I'm saying it as if I had experienced a meeting with someone in town, very very real.

Answer 3

I experience God many ways actually. In prayer, I feel His presence. In reading His word, I hear His wisdom. In walking along and looking over and seeing a white heron standing on the bank of the lake, I feel His peace and witness the beauty of His creation. In sorrow, I feel His touch of encouragment. In embarrassment or failure, I feel His forgiveness. In anger, I feel His correction. When I am lost, I feel His hand guiding me. In confusion, He brings His word before me and my path is again clear.

He uses all my human emotions, thoughts and senses to reach me for His purposes.

Answer 4

Experiencing God means to have sex with him. My mother did.