Dreams

edited December 1969 in Faith Issues
They are sooooooo confusing... ???
Now the questions I'd like and answers(with more q's or comments)
1- Do they mean anything
2- Is God sending you a sign and
a- how do you know if he is
3- If you sin in a dream, is that an actual sin, cuz you're not actually controlling what you're doing, well sorta, but u kniw what i mean,,,,
4- :-\ What is the point of Dreaming
TRANSLATION OF #4: Why does God continually amke ud Dream, like Why do we dream....
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Comments

  • Dreams COULD be from God, as a sign, like our father Jacob, when he saw the stairs leading to heaven, and King Nebuchadnessar, Farao and others. I dont really know how u would be able to distinguish that, caus it could be just a temptation from the devil.

    But generally speaking, dreams are just a mixture of thoughts from ur subconsciense, with which ur brains try to process everything u've been through all day long, caus a lot of thoughts and images that u've seen throughout the day are stored in that subconsciense.

    If u sin in a dream, thats not an actual sin, but for example if u dream of killing someone u know, there's probably something behind that, like enmity between u and the specific person, or for example a youth who has an unclean dream, it could be due to lusts in his hart...so in most of the times dreams signify whats going on in ur mind and hart...
  • Great post Hos irof, I agree with you. About the distinguishing, if it is a dream from God, I think you would be able to realize it. Most likely, the dream will pertain to you, it may be something you've asked God in your prayers, or maybe it's something that you've been wondering about. But I see what you'r saying Hos irof, the devil may trick us into thinking that this dream is from God when it really isn't.
  • sinful dream is a sin,
    there a great book called "spiritual warfare" by our pope that explain that what ever u read, look at listen to, externally will effect u internally, if ur external senses are pure than ur internal will be...
    in other words, if u surround urself with holy stuff, theres no way ull have a sinful dream, cause dreams sorta reflect our thoughts in a wierd day, like if ur thinkin about somethin b4 u go to sleep u sometimes dream of it...

    the devil attacks us from the outside by external temptaitions which can lead to us falling in sin by our dreams, but he cant get into our minds and read/control our thoughts.
    as to know whether its from God or not, im sure if it was ull know without a doubt it was, but if ur not sure then it wasnt from God..

    dreams are just something mechanical that we go through in this world, God can use them as a medium to send us visions, and the devil can attacks us by surrounding us by temptation leading ur dreams to be sinful, but its a hardship we have to learn how to control...
    the saints would dream of church, other saints storys, beautiful stuff like that...
    THEY OVERCAME THE WORLD, WHICH WAT WE HAV TO DO, CAUSE WE ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD
  • [quote author=G.J.I link=board=1;threadid=537;start=0#msg8844 date=1092694972]
    sinful dream is a sin,


    it doesnt always have to be a sin though, it could be a weird mixture of things u've seen (maybe even accidently), it could also be an attack by the devil as appears in a story of one of the desert fathers:

    he was asked by a young monk if he had sinned, because he had a dream in which he was with a woman. The elderly monk replied: suppose u walk by a home and the smell of meat reaches u, have u sinned? No, u just smelled it, u didnt eat it. So, the thing is when u wake up, not to give in into the desire or lust.

    However, i think in normal cases dreams signify whats going on in our harts and minds as i stated before, so i guess it could be seen in a way as a sin.
  • yeah i see where ur coming from but in the book "spiritual warfare" it says, that if ur life is holy and pure, and u see something accidentally then u should be able to discard it, and not dwell on it or think about it...
    wit the smellin meat, it depends if u smell it and crave for it or if u smell it by chance and overcome it...
  • For that same point, a dream doesn't HAVE to be a sin, it could be, just like u said. HH also said that the senses are the gates of ur hart, so if ur senses are pure, ur dreams will be pure, but it doesn't have to be like that necesserely, the brains are complicated and anything weird could pop out in a dream, even things u've seen a long time ago...but i think we agree on this point george ;)
  • I see what the both of you are saying, but in your example, Hos irof, if you walk by a house and the smell of meat reaches you, you did not intentionally walk by that house to smell the meat. It is something that happened, and as you said, if you crave it, then you have sinned, but as the both of you said, it's not a sin if you discard it. I believe that the church acknowledges both good and bad thoughts popping up in everybodys' heads, it is not the thought itself that is the sin, but how you handle the thought.

    In the Bible, thanks to SisterInChrist who helped me find the verse, it says, "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Mathew 5:28. So it is clear that lustful thoughts are bad, but if a lustful thought comes to you, realizing it is bad, you discard it. And if you discard it, then it is not in your heart or mind, so how then can you dream of it?
  • I once asked a servant about this whole dream thing, and he asked me if I enjoyed this "bad" dream. It sounds kinda weird, but it kinda tells u whether it was an "accident" or if there is something wrong and u need to fix it.
  • aiight
    dreams are a reflection of wht we see, hear and do...
    dreams are just something mechanical that we go through in this world, God can use them as a medium to send us visions, and the devil can attacks us by surrounding us by temptation leading ur dreams to be sinful, but its a hardship we have to learn how to control.
    i guess theres no point to dreaming its just something the body does..

    what i believe is GOd can send u messages through your dreams, for example wen my Grandma passed away, my mum took it very hard, she wouldnt stop mourning, she had a dream one nite, that her mum (my grandma) was alive and they were together, and my grandma was white and glowing and healthy, then apparently they were doin something and a hot coal fell on my mums foot in the dream, and she wanted to cry but her sister, my anty was there as well, and she said to her, "dont cry you know mum wont be able to rest if you do, mish hat testahmel"
    my mum told her that it hurts and she has to cry, but my anty told her "shes very happy now now and if u cry, ull take away her joy."

    that was sorta wat hapned its hard to explain in english, but that had a message, we believe that if we mourn for the ppl who have left this world too much then they wont be at rest sorta, because there at a holy place, with god, and they are in his bossom, and they see us mourning.... i can explain it, but hat wat our priest told us...

    any way it was very obvious to her that it was a message. so if GOd contacts u, theres noway u wont know it not Him..

    its up to us if we sin or not, the devil attacks us from the outside by external temptaitions which can lead to us falling in sin by our dreams, but he cant get into our minds and read/control our thoughts.

    if we are holy so then will our thoughts and our dreams...etc
    im sorry i know i probably made it more complicated then my last 2 post...
    sorry
  • Couldn't have said it better G.J.I., great job. :D
  • ur not quiet finished here ;D

    if GOd contacts u, theres noway u wont know it not Him..

    never ever beleive wat u see EVER :P there is a miracle proving this but i forgot it...i should find out and post it L8er....u gotta beleive me :P
    i hav had a whole sunday school lesson about it and i know that u never beleive anything u c....
    a devil can appear as any saint and even can appear as Jesus or any angel (it has been done b4, but in the old tyms, esp. to saints)
    plz forgiv mee
    GBU ;)
    p.s mmatt....im on ya side bro ;)
  • aiight thas true to an extent, but wat im sayin, if GOd reveals somthing to u, ull be 100% certain its him, if ur not 100% certain it was him, then it wasnt, but there are occasions were it does hapn, u cant say that u neva eva believe wat u see, cause then ull be sayin that heaps of the saints where bein fooled and they didnt see jesus, or he neva appeared to them in a dream,
    i think devils can appear to u in the physical world, as spiritual things, or wateva, but i dont think there permitted to enter into ur mind, all the saint stories i know, the devil appeared in reality not in a dream... but plz, i beg u correct me because i dont want to be goin around sayin the wrong stuff..

    thats my understanding of it,
    but wat would i know...
  • [quote author=ArIpSaLiN link=board=1;threadid=537;start=0#msg8878 date=1092737503]
    never ever beleive wat u see EVER :P there is a miracle proving this but i forgot it...i should find out and post it L8er....u gotta beleive me :P
    i hav had a whole sunday school lesson about it and i know that u never beleive anything u c....
    a devil can appear as any saint and even can appear as Jesus or any angel (it has been done b4, but in the old tyms, esp. to saints)


    there was a saint to whom an angel appeared sometime, then he said; why do u appear to me, i'm not worthy to see an angel from God, then the angel departed (it was the devil obviously), so the devil may appear to someone (in a dream) to lead them to vain glory and selfrighteousness. So u can only know this by humblesness, as appears in the story.

    2 Corinthians 11:14 - And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
  • are u sure that was in a dream, cause i heard a similar story, but it wasnt a dream...
    he just appeared to him.
  • I cant remember, but the point is that Satan could appear in a dream as well, we shouldn't be misled by that, even though i think its hard to differentiate between a dream that came from the devil or God ???
  • dont worry, im sure it means nothin marmar
    ps if u think thats wierd, uve neva seen wat goes on in my head ??? ??? ???
  • we dont want to know wat happens in ur head george.....plz dont go on :-X
    lol ;D
    ;) ;)
  • It's said that you dream about what you went to bed thinking about. Whatever was the last thing to come to mind before you slept. Depending on that or those thoughts, dreams could lead anywhere, but strangly enough, they always contain that element of thought...

    sleepy
  • Hey Marmar,

    I agree with you, sure, it is hard to get these thoughts out of your mind, it's not an easy thing. But that doesn't mean we have to give up. The next time a bad thought comes up, pop in one of your favorite hymns and play it loud, so your concentration moves to the hymn. Sing along with it, because if you're listening to it, your mind might wander.

    About the friend thing, I don't remember who said this, but I think it was sleepy saying that her abouna told her to be sly about things. If this person is really close to you, then maybe you can joke around with them, and say something, "Watch the language, my ears!" And if they don't get it after the first few times, then just saying something like, "No seriousely, stop." If that doesn't work, at least you tried.

    And in the above post, sleepy was saying that you can usually find the element of thought of what you were thinking in your dreams. So, another idea, try sleeping to one of the hymns. I do that with hymns I don't know, so it's a two in one, I'm thinking about the hymn, and I learn it.
  • Sorry Marmar. ;D Oh and by the way, you do know to keep the volume low and NOT to sing with it, right? Lol. About the friend of yours, since you seem open with them, try and remind them each time they say a word, and pretty soon they'll get tired of you saying it, just try and get it into their mind, because it seems like it's a habit, and it's kind of hard to stop habits. And if you can't get it into his/her mind, and it's causing you to fall and sin, I would really suggest you try avoiding this person. If you're close friends, ensha'la they will catch on and realize something's wrong. I know it's really hard to seperate youself from a friend, that's why it's not my first suggestion, but a last resort. And don't forget to pray for this person. Hopefully your problem gets resolved. ;)
  • I think I can relate to you MarMar, I had two terrifying mightmares in the same night, and they didn't have significance to eachother, or what I was thinking about before I went to sleep.....*shudder*

    sleepymusician
  • Not all dreams have to a meaning.

    sleepy
  • i always have the weirdest names....lol
  • Guys, I just found out that all dreams do have a meaning to them. Whether they be from God or the devil, you have to decipher yourself, but Anba David was at our church recently and he brought up that dreams do have meaning to them.

    sleepy
  • [quote author=LordHaveMercy link=board=1;threadid=537;start=0#msg8840 date=1092685342]
    Great post Hos irof, I agree with you. About the distinguishing, if it is a dream from God, I think you would be able to realize it. Most likely, the dream will pertain to you, it may be something you've asked God in your prayers, or maybe it's something that you've been wondering about. But I see what you'r saying Hos irof, the devil may trick us into thinking that this dream is from God when it really isn't.



    I am not sure if it is as simple as you state, LordHaveMercy. I am very interested in hearing much more about ths thread. It is not easy to figure out whether a dream is from God or if its from the devil. I feel that before one believes in their dreams they should speak to their father of confession and through the power of the Holy Spirit be guided on a rightous path and know the truth about it. This issue troubles me also because of the fact that the devil can get involved in it and get you to believe something that is not true and therefore allow you to sacrifice very very important things. Very scary and very important to know about.
  • I don't know if what you think or how you feel about a dream determines whether it is from God or not, sorry to disagree with you MarMar91, please forgive me. I mean the devil may allow you to see something which you like which would indirectly lead to your downfall. For instance, if the devil makes you dream that you recieve 100% on a very important test in school, one may be led to think that since my dream says that I will get an A on my test, which would make me very happy and joyful probably, I should just not study. It is the same way in spiritual life. For instance, if you have a dream that you will be a monk or a nun or any other religious position which pleases you one may be led to think that, oh well, since I had a dream about that it will happen and I do not need to develop myself spiritually anymore because I have proved myself worthy to become a monk, nun, etc... It all leads to pride in oneself. That is what makes interpreting dreams very tricky and that's why I think that such a matter should be discussed with a father in confession. Please forgive me MarMar or anybody else for disagreeing with what you said. If anybody considers my actions to be offensive in any way please tell me and I will back off.

    Please pray for me always,
    Believer in God
  • Thank you MarMar 91 soooo soooooo much for bringing this up again. I know that this is a very touchy situation and that was why I wanted more elaboration on it and what you have said was very insightful. When referring to the last thing about what you said about dreams I was wondering how we can decipher the difference between a dream which God sends to us, and I am sure that God speaks to us through dreams because that is when we are open-minded to the words of God, and whether it is the devil that sends it to us. I think that a way that the devil practices deceit and trickery is by allowing us to dream about things so that we may be joyful and have courage, as MarMar 91 has said, but then the devil knows that by allowing us to dream of such things it may lead us to pride and then indirectly and slowly but surely leading us away from the path of God and leading us into a deep sin, even though we might not know that we are in this deep sin. I think that MarMar 91 pretty much hit the nail on the head when she was describing the purpose of dreams and why we recieve dreams and visions. Thank you so much MarMar 91 for bringing up this issue again and I hope to hear from more people.

    Please pray for me always,
    Believer in God
  • I am not sure if I understand what you mean, soo sorry MarMar91. It is all my fault because my mind can not think for itself. I think you mean to say that you feel relieved, like in your last example I thought you meant to say that you feel relief that this person does not actually hate you in real life. Please correct me if I am wrong and please forgive me for my constant annoyance and incomprehension. I know, although, that there are cases where the devil tries to trick you into prideful thoughts through dreams and visions, at least I strongly think so. It all makes dream interpretation all the more complicated. Like I gave with the example of the dreaming or invisioning yourself as a monk or nun. It makes you prideful in that you think yourself as being so holy and pure so you think that you do not have to develop your spiritual life anymore and it might even lead you to fall backwards in your spiritual life and therefore get you farther and farther away from the path of God. These visions and sights happen to the monks and sometimes even tricks them into believing that such visions were from God:

    * * *
    Several brothers went to Abba Antonios to relate to him certain visions which they beheld and to ascertain from him whether the visions were true or of demonic origin. They had along with them a small donkey which died on the way. Just as they reached Abba Antonios, he, expecting them, said: “How did the little donkey die on the road?”

    “How did you know this, Abba?” they said to him.

    “The demons revealed it to me.”

    And they answered him: “It is for this reason that we came to see you, for fear of being deceived, since we see visions and many times they come true.”

    Thus, with the foregoing example of the donkey, the elder made it known to them that their visions came forth from the demons.

    * * *

    I know that the devil can do this and that is what concerns me. I was wondering if there was any other way to know whether a vision was from the devil or from God. There were other times where the devil actually convinced monks to do evil things like commit suicide or change and convert to another religion by deceit. This is what concerns me so much.

    Please pray for me always,
    Believer in God
  • I have had a dream like that I think MarMar... I thought it was a good dream I think... how do I know?
  • Can you tell me more specifically what your dream was about? If not, then I respect your decision. May that dream which made you happy continually bless you and bring you closer to God.

    Please pray for me always,
    Believer in God
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