Why is it when we talk to God, we're said to be praying, but when God talks to u we're schizophrenic?
105789
i don't call it schizophrenic when God talks to me... i only hear other voices in my head other than Gods. LOL
919140
No.  Though, I'm sure some people think God talked to them.  The brain will fill in whatever voice you want to hear if you really want to hear something badly enough.
1091312
Because to believe in God means to give up the concept that we rule the things around us.  It is a frightening proposition to have to let go of that feeling of self-control, and acually place ourselves in the care of another by acting in faith, not an easy thing to do..
542650
Yes! speaking or praying in tongues is a way to communicate with God that only He understands. It takes complete submission on your part and to focus on His glory and to praise and worship Him. I was only and am only able to pray in tongues if I think of only Him and my heart feels so complete. It is an act that should be achieved by every Christian. God wants us to have a relationship with Him and I think this is one of the ways to display your filling of the Holy Spirit. Continue to read the bible, Know Jesus is our Lord and Savior, and get others to come to Heaven with you.
999303
basically god always wants you to try helping yourself first as best as you can then pray to him. after that? patientce and have faith ;)
32711
It is okay if you think I am nuts but here goes.I talk to God by prayer, sometimes silently and sometimes outloud. God talks to me occassionaly at His time frame, In other words I don't have to be in a prayerful or spiritual mood for Him to speak. I cannot explain it but when He speaks to me, it is not silent in my head and it is not audible so that others can hear it but it is clearly audible to me.So yes, I have a relationship with Him. I also can feel His prescense in my life.Look to John 8:47,& 10:26-30 Jesus stated my sheep hear my voice and they know me(Jesus) and follow me. God may not communicate with everyone the same as He does with me but if you do not hear His voice in some manner then you don't know Him. My relationship with Him indeed started out as faith but you are correct in the change that takes place. I cannot prove this relationship to anyone but to me it is fact. You can not achieve fact without first having faith.
389730
We don't change the mind of God rather He changes us. Every good parent gives what is good for their child and withholds what is bad. But even though we plan to give them something good we teach them to say please and thank you so that they are trained to politeness and character. God would have us acknowledge him by asking as it is only the right thing to do. He may withhold things from us till we learn but yes He did know all along how we would react. We are still responsible creatures created in His image. He is not interested in mindless robots but people who know and love Him. He does not hold anything back needlessly as in the case of one who cannot pray. He even sends us His Spirit who intercedes for us. His carrying out His plan of benevolence and justice goes on irregardless of us. He is sovereign and is able to incorporate our prayers into things so that they are not in any way useless or an insult. He even teaches us to pray. We know we have the things He has promised and for the rest we pray "not my will but thy will be done" "God will not despise any prayer from even the least of His children. \nHebrews 7:25\nTherefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.
1031646
Most of the people who hear from god are only revealed as extremely mentally ill after they have crashed and burned. If you see a headline "Cult sex scandal," "Cult disaster" or "Cult Mass Sucide" you realise that the person leading the cult was mentally ill. \n\nMost of the people who have been told that the world is going to end on such and such a day and evacuate their followers are delusional or suffering from a psychosis. \n\nMost people that communicate with God have Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). They are normally very bright and NPD drives them to become succesful in whatever field they work in. NPD is found in 1% of the population. NPD types seem to influence the religious and political fields excessively. \n\nFor more extreme mental illnesses  there are no hard and fast rules. A general test for whether a person who talks with God is sane seems to be how many other people share the person's  vision. The more successful a person is with sharing their revelations from God the less likely they are to be diagnosed with a mental illness.\n \nIn churches like the Latter Day Saints revelations were the norm, until revelations were restricted to the top of the Mormon Hierarchy.  On the other hand the Lord's Army's Joseph Konya is definately psychotic. However he has altered his environment sufficiently that he has a host of fellow believers. The Muslim extremist sects have warped their view of the world to such an extent that they may be judged to have lost contact with reality. They may be said to be suffering from a self induced psychosis.  \n\nThere are other physical symptoms that indicate mental illness that can be used to judge someone apart from their habit of  talking with God. A normal schizophrenic doesn't have enough of a shared world reality to communicate their conversations with God to someone else. \n\nOther voices from god may be explained as complex partial seizures. It's a form of epilepsy triggered by specific vibrations. Joan of Arc heard church bells and she would hear voices and see visions.\n\nEach case needs to be judged on it's own merits.
1134227
The 'god' of whacko cultists.\n\nIf you look at the Koran, it calls for peace and love, and it also calls for killing and death. It is schizophrenia itself. Paranoid schizophrenia, at that. It calls the faithful to love and hate. To peace and war.\n\nNo wonder they're so FUBAR.
726244
i am taking this question seriously, although it seems some have not. when i pray at night or in church my eyes are closed. i even go so far as plugging my ears. it's just a matter or focusing on God and your conversation with Him. there are times throughout the day when I say quick little prays of thanks or something, and i don't always close my eyes then. it's not a matter of whether it is commanded. in this case it is what works best for you and ensures your mind ad spirit is focused on the task at hand!
934049
Because most people are not in the habit of questioning ANYTHING!\n\nEspecially religious people, it is one of the requirements...\n\nIt is the same reason why most religious people would much rather believe that some guy had visions of the future that were granted to him by GOD, as opposed to the much more believable option that he was Schizophrenic!\n\nOf course, then they would have to question much more than just their religions... and we CAN'T have that apparently!
605106
Freud had a lot to say about how we understand religion.  The (our) father being the dominant position.  People need something to believe in and someone to show them the way.  We are truly weak creatures...well...not all of us are...but A LOT of us really don't think before we invest our faith.
235496
My Dads sermon last night was about how prayer changes things.The fact that you have asked for prayer shows that you believe that God is able to answer those prayers.Hold on to that faith,God is very concerned about you.Keep looking past the problem and to the solution.God is the solution.My heart goes out to you.Jesus is the answer.
1042396
God understands our prayers even when we can't find the words to say them
89055
yes, we pray to Jesus to make his followers shut the hell up and leave the rest of us alone, and while he's at it, remind them what his teachings were really about. \n\n(just kidding. but only sort of.)\n\natheists have hopes and dreams and sometimes express them to the cosmos. but i don't think i have prayed since i was a little girl and still believed in that idea that "faith" would get me candies and heaven and revenge against all those jerks who didn't "believe." i do meditate on occasion, and i believe that prayer is another form of that. (concentration or clearing the mind, for instance.)\n\ni believe in life and the universe and the effort to create a better world. i believe that the impact of my existence is clear, and based on the acts i undertake in this life, and that it is my responsibility to do my part toward a better world. i don't do this because i believe in "god's reward" or heaven, but because it is the right thing to do. and that "right thing" is obvious to me (and all healthy humans). i find it puzzling that anyone would depend on marginally indecipherable ancient texts to decide these things for them. having personal ethics does not depend upon a religious tract, nor should it. \n\ni have a pleasant life, i have plenty of community without going to church, and i personally can't imagine living any other way. and no, i'm not going to, nor have i ever, become "christian" while in a "foxhole." my beliefs are strong, and they are mine. they have foundation in history and in my personal experience. and best of all, i don't need to just "have faith." i have fact. \n\nand BTW, i have read the Bible many times, went to parochial schools my entire childhood, and i find it to be astounding the lengths that "christians" will go to talk themselves around in circles over it. i especially find it amusing that people who espouse themselves to be "christian" use their armageddon idea as a sort of "revenge fantasy" against unbelievers. as if christ would approve.
192767
Many people with mental illness have a high degree of religiosity.  In the United States and other majority-Christian countries, that is likely to track to fervent Christian beliefs, but that's just demographics; there is nothing inherent in Christian beliefs more than any other religious belief systems to attract people living with mental illness.\n\nThere are several reasons for this:\n(1)  Some illnesses, particularly the manic phase of bipolar disorder, actually appear to intensify religious fervor in people; preoccupation with religious themes and spiritual thoughts & feelings is one possible manifestation of some psychotic disorders like mania or certain schizophrenic conditions;\n(2)  People with mental illness are often exposed to strong religious convictions, because so much of their personal care systems when they are not hospitalized involve "faith systems"; in other words, homeless people with mental illness are very likely to be frequently fed, clothed, housed, and counseled by faith-based organizations and charities, and often the free meals come with preaching and prayer, so this has an impact on their perception of what "healthy" people believe and want to hear;\n(3)  Spirituality is one of the last personal strengths people are left when many forms of empowerment are taken from them because of severe illness or the realities of hospitalization--long after you can't take care of your own money, healthcare, and business decisions, you are still in charge of your own spiritual destiny, so that makes it very important to chronically hospitalized people;\n(4)  Many evangelists deliberately target vulnerable people to hear their comparatively extreme version of their faith, and that means that psychologically impressionable mentally ill people are often deluged with religious proselytizing by the more fervent, vocal, and even at times fanatical elements of any given faith community;\n(5)  Religiosity, with its endorsement of the miraculous/magical dimension of life, resonates with the experience of psychotic people, whose delusions and hallucinations also keep them in touch with that miraculous and magical dimension of life.  In other words, when you hear all day that you are psychotic because you believe that demons possess your neighbors, it can be very reassuring to know that Jesus, too, believed in demons, and cast them out of people.  Religion is a safer place for those who believe in things that are, empirically speaking, not there.  The challenge is to encourage them to maintain their spiritual beliefs but ground them in a reality-based perspective that does not lead them into behaviors that hurt themselves or others.  (In other words, believing in demons is okay, but walking naked down the street to cast the demons out of pedestrians is not...)\n\nHope this helps.
187181
This is purely my speculation but I'll mention it, as hopefully it'll get your mind working.\n\nIt is natural for humans to speak and to formulate words. We do this as we have minds that think abstractly. No other animal as far as we know can hold up one item and know that it represents something else. Yet think what the symbolism of a cross means to a Christian, or a crescent to a Muslim. We use words as symbols. The letters G, D, and O are meaningless by themselves and the word God should be meaningless, it's just three symbols written one after the other. But they aren't are they? Of course if you see Dieu (and you don't understand French) the meaning is lost and it is just a squiggle.\n\nThe reason why we use words is to try and describe our feelings to one another. Look at the words we've both used in this exchange and you'll see that each of us was trying to create a 'mental picture' to help the other understand our 'train of thought'