For most of my life I considered myself to be something of a Pantheist.
I had read a large variety of religious texts, being most inspired by the
Bhagavad Gita, and the Nordic Skald as well as Greek mythology.
I had always considered religion to be a variety of ethics which used
mythical stories to teach moral codes. The school I attended had a
particularly nasty version of the narrative of Christianity as its main
thrust of such argument. Apartheid South Africa was not a fun place
to be for non-racist white people.
I had been taught that the Bible endorsed all sorts of such bad ideas,
such as racism and corporal punishment so I had very little place for it
in my schema of things. Had I expected a personal experience of
a real spirit with which to commune, I would have anticipated Brigid,
or Thor, or Shiva. Perhaps Hermes, Ares, Athena or Poseidon.
And yet,
I have spoken with John the Baptist 3 times, Jesus twice.
And I glimpsed the Almighty once.
I could not ever have become a Christian without such positivist
experiences, having seriously studied Psychology and Philosophy
to post-grad level. I would expect to be able to explain away
those experiences using psychology - and if someone else had told
me this story before I had those experiences - I would have done
just that.
I have never been part of any church or religious group - have never
even been inside the same church twice. I have hardly had any
conversations with priests.
I did not at first take the experiences as completely real, even though
they felt entirely real. I analysed the situation from every angle in
Psychology and Philosophy that I could.
I am now 45 years old, and the first event occurred at age 22.
The 2nd event was 10 years ago, and only after that did I begin
to conclude the experiences as real - more than 12 years after
first speaking with John the Baptist. I wish I had not doubted so much.
I wasted so much time doubting. Still, it was part of a plan.
Here the miracle of my story begins:
http://www.flight-light-and-spin.com/dream.htm