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4 months ago ::
Feb 01, 2012 - 8:47PM
#1
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What would you do if you regularly had powerful experiences of God but a doctor diagnosed these experiences to be the result of epilepsy?The doctor proposes treating you with anti-epileptic drugs.Would you take the drugs and risk losing those powerful experiences?This is an actual case that I recently learned about.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 01, 2012 - 11:26PM
#2
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Take your meds. If God is, well, God, he'll find a way to communicate regardless.
He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. ~ Proverbs 14:31Fiat justitia ruat caelum 
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4 months ago ::
Feb 02, 2012 - 12:57AM
#3
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Take your meds. If God is, well, God, he'll find a way to communicate regardless.
Very good advice, also true.
The gods will find a way.
A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side. Aristotle
Never discourage anyone...who continually makes progress, no matter how slow. Plato..
"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives" Jackie Robinson
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4 months ago ::
Feb 02, 2012 - 1:09AM
#4
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Perhaps those messages from God had some chemical assistance? There is abundant precedence.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 02, 2012 - 2:00AM
#5
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I agree with the others. Effects from seizures can have serious consequences. Your friend should take the prescribed drugs. While the experiences may not be quite as inadvertent, practice of faith gets good results.
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4 months ago ::
Feb 02, 2012 - 11:14AM
#6
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... powerful (spiritual) experiences of God... CAVEAT: Test the "spirits"! Are they Biblical? Take the pills! (ADD: prayer! Can't hurt!)
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4 months ago ::
Feb 02, 2012 - 11:30AM
#7
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According to the Bible, epilepsy is the work of demons.
| 17:15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.17:16And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.17:18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. |
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4 months ago ::
Feb 02, 2012 - 12:15PM
#8
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I doubt that there would be many takers with respect to the choosing to eschew medicine for epilepsy, but two things about the proposition are interesting. The first is that there has long been a speculative link between certain types of religious experience and epilepsy. For example, several very pious characters in Dostoyevsky's work suffer from the condition. In fact, the author himself struggled with the affliction. Also, it may seem somewhat clear-cut with respect to epilepsy, but I seem to recall that Parkinson's medication has many unfortunate side-effects, but works to ameliorate the outward signs of the disease. Put briefly, sufferers have the dilemma of sacrificing inner lucidity for outward motor-control. Personally, I think that would be a tough choice to make.
Ubi solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant - Tacitus
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4 months ago ::
Feb 02, 2012 - 1:22PM
#9
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According to the Bible, epilepsy is the work of demons.
| 17:15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.17:16And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.17:18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. |
you may be overbroad; that epilectic seemed to be demonic does not imply that all or most are
Non Quis, Sed Quid
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4 months ago ::
Feb 02, 2012 - 3:14PM
#10
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Dave, of course I'm being overly broad. That's the wonderful thing about quoting the Bible; it's easy to do........
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