Faith and Tinnitus

Maybe 100 years ago, everyone will encourage you to find god and they will help you to understand why and how. But the modern world is secular and the main trend is "I do what i want, i don't need anyone". So yes even religion has seceded and many people are wondering why they feel left out. Honestly if someone approached me 10 years ago to talk about this concept of "God"...it might have really helped me in my rebellious youth...but no one did because people were afraid.

But then I asked myself, would i even have listened? Would i have cared? Probably not. So why bother? What i know from Christianity was from TV...and there was nothing positive...yes we know...religion is evil etc etc. Atheism is the only way etc etc...of course fed into it and i actually believed it...all my friends encouraged it...so did my family.

It took a lot of soul searching to find it, and I am glad i did...I know how hard it was to do a 180 so i can't fault anyone for believing in the negative things they were told or influenced to believe. Personally I have lost many good friends who found out i was no longer an Atheist...they think i am delusional. But I am happy, and they are not...so

 

I do not believe reality is defined by us. I think there is only what is, and what is not. But I get what you're saying. I believe the context of this thread is the Abrahamic concept of God.

 

YES The very idea of God is beyond simple human understanding. Do you think the creator of the universe has the same prejudices, understandings, feelings and rationality as you do ? Really not, and it is human vanity to believe he stays up at night worrying about the same crap we do. God doesn't hate you and force you into a car accident, perhaps he turned on the "Free will" switch for the day because he needed a coffee break. When he came back he's like..AHH CRAP I forgot to auto save. Well since you got into a car accident, i'll just give you that pregnancy you've always wanted....hope it helps lolz.

 

Thought I'd share a story here some of you might appreciate. I picked up a young man (about 18-19 or so) hitchhiking many years ago, fairly close to my home. He was a very quiet kind of guy, and I literally had to pry even a few words out of his mouth. But I liked him, and invited him to over for a meal.

As I got to know him, I discovered he was from the deep hills of Tennessee, had heard about hitchhiking, and decided to discover an outside world he had never known. At the time, he didn't know what oceans were, who the President of the U.S. was, and was oblivious to some other pretty unbelievable things, like how people could fit inside a TV set.

I finally got around to asking him if he and his family/friends believed in God. His immediate reply was, "Who's he?" I went on to describe--as best I could--the Abrahamic concept of God. He listened very carefully, thought about it even more, and finally quipped, "Well, as long as he don't come messin' around Tennessee, I don't have a problem with him!"

 

Some have subjective belief.
Some have subjective doubt.
Some have subjective disbelief.
As to the objective reality,
nobody knows, nor can know.

 

Some have tinnitus so bad their belief in God is their main reason for living.

 

Some have such courageous integrity that there bad Tinnitus has no effect on their cognitive process.

 

sorry dude, if you have bad tinnitus, physical and chemical changes occur in the brain, with or without your integrity, and thus change your thought processes.

 

......yet more conjecture...but a worthy try.....

 

So you're saying that a published, peer-reviewed medical paper from the

US National Library of MedicineNational Institutes of Health

...….is conjecture?


Structural brain changes in tinnitus.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16280464



Didn't you see my mood thingy under my picture?

love you brother

 

.......so you mean to tell me that the brain could
be so addled that a true believer might
‘kick over the traces’.....and start free-thinking...?

(love you too)

 

‘Oh I love a bit of self-promotion
....hahaha x’

 

Oh please, coming from someone who literally thinks of themselves as full of "courage" and "integrity" because they read a few articles on google and saw a few memes on their Facebook feed...suddenly you're the expert on spirituality. Lol, learn the difference between "there" and "their" before policing other people's thought process k?

 

@John adams https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140625184901.htm
The para hippocampus and the insulae - emotions - tinnitus

The insulae is interesting - interpersonal experience with association to self protection
tend to like to associate with others who see things their way - sometimes with unfairness to others
subjective
This is often stated in older medical books and I don't think that this is fair. Medical writers now are more objective
https://www.neuroscientificallychallenged.com/blog/2013/05/what-is-insula

I don't buy that most with tinnitus have emotional problems - not any more than those who don't
have tinnitus.

 

absolutely not. I'm talking about raw changes in sensory processing. elevated levels of stress. that affects the mind no matter what. just like putting sugar in your gas tank will affect your engine. Your insinuation that I'm not a free-thinker" is just wrong. It seems as if you're trying to indirectly claim that believing in Jesus Christ precludes freedom of thought.

 

Agree. I operated on this premise for many years, "habituating" to anything and everything that was slowing me down. (Mind over matter. No adversity, no success.)

But when the cognitive process fails, no level of courageous integrity will prevent this.

Maybe cognitive failure is caused by other mental issues and falsely attributed to tinnitus?

This was my opinion for many years before failure.

 

God is a mystery.
Even ‘his’ very existance is a mystery.
I am perfectly happy to realise that
I do not know, and cannot know.

 

Both Man and God

 

I tend to leave god to the imagination of others...

 

Perhaps - or just maybe - neither.
Who knows.....?

 

The truth about there being a God, Creator or Superior being is not all conjecture unless you want it to be. Open your eyes the truth is right in front of you.

Michael

 

I agree its something people have to discover in their own way. I also agree free will and thought is also important. One of the greatest gifts from God was free will. That is our gift. My feeling as to why God has not appeared or spoken to use directly is we aren't ready to handle something like that. If God appeared, some may go insane or think they are going insane or others will think they are insane and thats is not something God would want. It sounds like a convenient reason but just imagine if that happened. You would be so convicted in trying to convince others that you would lose it. This is why we don't hear God. We feel God.

My path all started with Jesus. He was real. Here on this earth. Its not just faith or belief. He existed. He is where my path began in the belief of God. If I had any advice for someone who does not believe in God, I say to start with Jesus. Someone who was real. And to read his story and teaching. And that is not an easy task in itself because his teachings are transcribed by man and there is some lost in translation. So you need to read as much as you can and decide for yourself. Did he perform miracles? I say yes. Sure there could have been some who made false claims. But his miracles are talked about immensely, in a time when there wasn't facebook or twitter to spread messages and he was poor. And even if one doesn't believe in miracles, then here is one fact. His teachings was able to make the greatest empire in the world at the time believe in Him. The Roman Empire. This one Man and His words made the Roman Empire believe to such depths that they gave the Catholic faith a home. Believer or not, that is an astonishing historical accomplishment. So try not to being with spirituality. Begin with the person, Jesus. Read His story and learn about his life and then see how you feel. If the Bible is too much of a task to take on then watch a few movies or The Bible A.D. tv series as it's an easier stepping stone to being with. Of course there will be some dramatization, but you will get the idea. Then take on the Bible. I like NKJV or NASB as each are from different sources, Majority/Recipitus Text and Critical Text. Without learning the history and stories of it all, I don't blame non-believers to just simply believe in God. Some need a foundation to start with.

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

 

I spent zero to 18 years in church, including a three year bible correspondence course.
I admit to being an indoctrination failure.

 

* full of courage and integrity,
* read a few articles on google,
* saw a few memes on Facebook,
* quite the expert on spirituality, etc....

- lovely to observe you taking the example of your Lord Jesus Christ as your role model in humility.

Yes, I made a spelling error
......I accept my mistakes
.....I leave pomposity to those with a fragile ego.

(......perhaps changing to de-caf might help,
........just a well-meaning thought.)

 

A bit simplistic Michael.
If the religious option was so obvious, the entire Western world would be Christian.
There are still a few of us left, who honestly and genuinely question the reality of god.
Religious affiliation seems to depend ‘almost’ entirely on country of origin, and familial influence.

 

Dave,

I have been following your anti-God posts and I have to admit that you are just making yourself look bad in all of these posts. Lashing out against other people's beliefs and spitting on it like you are doing is just WRONG. If you don't have faith, that's your issue. you have NO RIGHT to come and insult other people as you are clearly doing in these threads. It's possible that maybe your tinnitus is loud and annoying but to spit in my face and other people's faces by posting your disrespectful anti-God comments is just WRONG. I pray to God each day, multiple times and he has carried me in my life and gives me strength.

You have NO right to insult me and others by posting such rude posts. No one has insulted you Dave, respect others and please grow up. If you do not have faith , then don't come into such threads and be do not be rude and disrespectful.....

 

I am not anti god, though it may seem like that to you.
I simply question.
I mean no insult - though you obviously think I do.
Spit in your face, because I question the reality of god. This should not disturb the true believer.
No one has insulted you’....not sure about that.
(respect others and grow up!)
Rude and disrespectful ??
I think debating the basis of faith is too uncomfortable for some.
One would hope they had the confidence to debate.
However, after being so roundly misunderstood, I will leave.
No hard feelings from me however.....xx

 

Don't leave @Jazzer. You're no different from the rest of us. We're all trying to manage our T and express our viewpoints.

 

I question.
I pray.
I still do both of these things.
I am a “don’t know.”
I am quite openly honest about things.
Whether Christianity is anything more than a middle eastern cult, a book, a church and a congregation - I, so far, can not tell?
But why does my questioning disturb the believer.
Perhaps it raises uncomfortable questions in his mind.
Please be proud of what you believe in.
Perhaps I am simply being naive - I can’t tell anymore?
It is not my intention to upset anybody, unless of course they choose to treat me with disrespect which I feel I do not deserve.

Is there any topic in life that should be above questioning and debate?
This is the Western World.