Lucid Dreaming and Christianity

[Hitzlsperger]

I know most of you here are either agonistic or aethist, but I, being a Christian, want to know whether there's anything evil about Lucid Dreaming.

[Sisyphus50]

Yes, it's satanic and you'll go to Hell. Really, why would you assume it's evil in any way? It's a conscious form of dreaming, which you do unconsciously at least 7-10 times a night anyway.

[Hitzlsperger]

My folks don't believe it's healthy to practice LD. The say I shouldn't mess around with this kind of stuff as it might be satanic. I just wanted to get another opinion.

[Wavefunction]

Mess around with this kind of stuff? You're not using chemicals or anything. It's simply telling yourself that you'll recognize when you're dreaming. Most people have had a lucid dream before, naturally.

[Sisyphus50]

I'm guessing you live in the Bible Belt? There is nothing satanic about your "god-given" ability to remain conscious while dreaming. It's not magic, it's not voodoo, it's completely natural. Your parents fear what they do not understand.

[Marvo]

My folks don't believe it's healthy to practice LD. The say I shouldn't mess around with this kind of stuff as it might be satanic. I just wanted to get another opinion. That's rather ignorant, but nevertheless, normal. You can't know if it's satanic, until judgement day, seeing as there is no mentioning of lucid-dreaming in the Bible. It's a gamble, you can practice it and have awesome lucid-dreaming, and then possibly end up in hell, or you can stay safe. That's kinda the wager in religion. Isn't it awesome?

[Man of Steel]

Ignore Marvo, he's just being a smartass. Besides, there is no such thing as hell, in the sense that you're thinking of. There is absolutely nothing wrong with lucid dreaming. Ask your parents just why they would assume such, without knowledge of the process? Hand them a copy of Stephen LaBerge's "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming' and explain that it is a scientifically proven method of relieving stress, developing creativity and artistic ability and confidence, ridding yourself of nightmares, and improving your mood throughout the day. Then point them to the Lucidity Institute. Or just have them PM me, and I'll straighten 'em out.

[Marvo]

Ignore Marvo, he's just being a smartass. Besides, there is no such thing as hell, in the sense that you're thinking of. Awww

[Serkat]

God made you in his image, so why would he condone being conscious while dreaming when it's clear that dreaming is the realm of the unconscious? Sir, you are going to hell.

[cuddleyperson]

Well i guess your going to have to ask yourself/your parents why it counts as "Satanic". Surely by definition that means colluding with the Devil? Do you visit the devil while your LDing? Does the Devil talk to you while you LD? Surely if Satan is not involved it is not a "Satanic" practice... Would your parents consider masturbation as Satanic or at least very wrong? If they think that i guess it makes sense they'd think anything mentioned in The bible as wrong or not mentioned in the Bible is evil( including antibiotics, pah who are we to interfere with Gods will, he created those small creatures to punish us because of original sin, we are finding ways to prevent diseases, prevent natural death in that way! I think that must be very sinful.)

[StephenT]

My folks don't believe it's healthy to practice LD. The say I shouldn't mess around with this kind of stuff as it might be satanic. I just wanted to get another opinion. Your folks are batshit crazy, but they do give me the giggles. For every bad, there is a good.

[Kael Seoras]

I'm a Christian, though maybe not as fundamental as you and your folks, but anyway I see absolutely nothing wrong with lucid dreaming.

[Dreamworld]

I know most of you here are either agonistic or aethist, but I, being a Christian, want to know whether there's anything evil about Lucid Dreaming. Why the hell would it be evil?

[Hitzlsperger]

My folks are quite 'traditional' Christians. They don't really buy into the whole scientific aspect of dreaming. From what I gather, they think that lucid dreaming is messing around with something God doesn't want us to. Or something like that. And my sister says that dreaming is unhealthy, saying that it's disturbed sleep, and that you don't get proper rest. She also claims that it's impossible to have a long lucid dream, as dreams don't last more than 5 minutes. She learnt all this apparently at school. I think it's bollocks, but with my whole family hectoring and not approving of lucid dreaming, I've got to find a way to convince them otherwise. I've been hiding my Dream Journal under my bed these past few days, I'm scared they'll find it and burn it or something. Yes my family is extremely old-fashioned.

[Dreamworld]

My folks are quite 'traditional' Christians. They don't really buy into the whole scientific aspect of dreaming. From what I gather, they think that lucid dreaming is messing around with something God doesn't want us to. Or something like that. And my sister says that dreaming is unhealthy, saying that it's disturbed sleep, and that you don't get proper rest. She also claims that it's impossible to have a long lucid dream, as dreams don't last more than 5 minutes. She learnt all this apparently at school. I think it's bollocks, but with my whole family hectoring and not approving of lucid dreaming, I've got to find a way to convince them otherwise. I've been hiding my Dream Journal under my bed these past few days, I'm scared they'll find it and burn it or something. Yes my family is extremely old-fashioned. My parents are like that too. But don't worry about it. I'm Christian and Lucid Dreaming is beneficial for me.

[StephenT]

My folks are quite 'traditional' Christians. They don't really buy into the whole scientific aspect of dreaming. From what I gather, they think that lucid dreaming is messing around with something God doesn't want us to. Or something like that. And my sister says that dreaming is unhealthy, saying that it's disturbed sleep, and that you don't get proper rest. She also claims that it's impossible to have a long lucid dream, as dreams don't last more than 5 minutes. She learnt all this apparently at school. I think it's bollocks, but with my whole family hectoring and not approving of lucid dreaming, I've got to find a way to convince them otherwise. I've been hiding my Dream Journal under my bed these past few days, I'm scared they'll find it and burn it or something. Yes my family is extremely old-fashioned. They're not so much old fashioned as much as insane and ignorant. They deny basic sciences, something that can be tested and retested with the same result. It is standard. It's ignorant and stupid to deny this because of a believe which has no scientific or objective proof whatsoever. Your family is more cultish than religious. Sorry, but if you have to hide a dream journal, that's pretty sad. Dreaming is a natural part of life, and is necessary for replenishment. Lucid dreaming is nothing more than a dream where you are in control. How there could be anything bad, much less satanic, about lucid dreaming is beyond me. The depth of the ignorance and hindrance of religion never fails to astound me.

[LucidFlanders]

Why the hell would it be evil? Because everything we do is evil except going to church 1 time a week. Pretty much you gotta live 1 hell of a boring ass life, shooting down things you wanna do, do things you absolutly hate because it's what you "have" to do, etc.

[Sisyphus50]

*Hatred of ignorance* So how many Methodists per day do you beat away with a big stick? Hehe. I've got a buddy who lives in Houston, he says it's rough being even an agnostic there.

[Kael Seoras]

She also claims that it's impossible to have a long lucid dream, as dreams don't last more than 5 minutes. Hm, even if I didn't learn the contrary in Psychology class, I would say this is impossible, considering some of the epic dreams I've had You dream whenever you have REM sleep. REM=rapid eye movement, for whatever reason your eyes move about rapidly. Also, your large muscles are paralyzed, so you don't do something dangerous while dreaming and you're supposed to recuperate while sleeping and moving uses energy. This stage of sleep is actually necessary to lead a healthy life, and since you always dream during REM sleep, you can't say dreams are unhealthy. As for the dreams not lasting more than 5 minutes, each period of REM sleep lasts a lot longer than 5 minutes, and you have about 4 to 5 periods of REM sleep every night. Some might counter this with "but I don't have 4 to 5 dreams every night and the dreams I do have aren't very long." You have the dreams, you just don't always recall them. A lot of stuff that happens during sleep is erased from the memory. Sleepwalkers don't remember what they do while sleepwalking. If you do a Google search you could probably find all this information.

[Hitzlsperger]

My Sister will dismiss it indignantly. For a devout Christian, she is rather stuck up and refuses to accept the truth about Dreams, or other stuff for that matter. My family is weird.

[Sisyphus50]

Dreams are references several times in both the old and new testament of the Bible. I don't see how your parents, being devout fundies, could ignore that. Allegedly: - Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob, had prophetical dreams. Ok, his brothers sold him into slavery for it, but he became Pharoahs' right hand man for his abilities (after being sent to prison), in Genesis. - A soldier had a prophetical dream before the Israelites attacked the Midianites, in Judges. - King Nebuchadnezzar had terrible nightmares and sought out Daniel to interpret them for him correctly, book of Daniel. - Solomon dreamed of God asking him to choose a reward for his faithful service. Solomon chose wisdom with which to righteously rule his people. For choosing a virtuous reward, he was given wisdom, riches and power. - In the Gospel of Matthew, Joseph was told in a dream by an angel of Mary's pregnancy with Jesus as being immaculate. He was also warned of Herod's infanticide to come, to save Jesus from death. - The wife of Pontius Pilate warned him that he must not persecute Jesus, for she had seen his future in a dream if he did. - "When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams." - Numbers 12:6b - The entire book of Revelations is a prophetical dream of the apocalypse! Being an atheist I don't put any stock in the Bible, but you can see quite clearly that dreams are mentioned many, many times. Our ancestors did not understand them at all, and took them as messages from the gods. We have the luxury of not being so naive.

[Xaqaria]

Carou-bot

[cuddleyperson]

Maybe ask your parents what Biblical verse gives them that opinion, i have only read roughly half the bible(mainly NT, which is what Christians follow over the OT i am told.) and that was three years ago but i don't remember anything about dreaming or the ability to control dreams being mentioned apart from maybe prophesies in them. I don't think Lucid Dreaming is even discussed, let alone saying whether it's right or wrong. Surely as a natural process it is acceptable?

[Sisyphus50]

Surely as a natural process it is acceptable? Don't suppose you've tried mentioning sex for pleasure to a Catholic recently?

[Hitzlsperger]

My folks won't change their point of view. And neither will my Sister, who staunchly believes in her unfounded scientific beliefs. It's their loss I guess. I've only had one lucid dream, years ago, and I didn't even know I was having it, but still the vividity of the dream still sticks in my mind. I guess a mixture of curiousity and wonderment has lead me trying to attain LDs.