Did Abraham Have Schizophrenia? Hearing A Voice Telling Him To Sacrifice Isaac?

by frankiespeakin 46 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Violia

  sizemilk,

  the psychology today article ends rather abruptly They are discussing a case study, Audrey, and the page just ends. does this articles continue anywhere? I do not see a link to click on. I'd like to finish reading the case study.

  There are many reasons why people hear voices, schizophrenia just being one of them. Bipolar , DID, and several other disorders include auditory hallucinations. A very common time a person might hear there name spoken aloud in their head is right before sleep, called Hyoogogia hallucinations, which are more or less normal but are often associated with increased stress.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Schneider

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnagogia

  The link below gives the criteria needed to diagnose schizophrenia per current DSM .

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia
• 

  Violia

  i see spell check had some fun with the word hypnagogia in my above post. (hyoogogia ??)
• 

  loosie

  I bet if the people who wrote the bible took medications that are available today the bible wouldn't have been written.
• 

  mP

  loosie:

  Not quite, its sad that people today believe these texts.
• 

  Glander

  We can never know what the true story was or if Abraham was real or what. We DO KNOW that this account has been cannonized in the Holy Bible. So taking it at face value is fair. The whole story just reeks of religious symbolism. It is based on the actual practice of animal sacrifice and the antitypical fulfillment, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

  No wonder I am an athiest.
• 

  frankiespeakin

  mP,

  "" Not quite, its sad that people today believe these texts.""

  We shouldn't expect every one to be at the top of the learning curve on this one. Not every one has the time to do the research.
• 

  Broken Promises

  Ancient Greeks used to sacrifice humans on top of the mountains to Baal and other deities.

  Umm, no they didn't. Learn a bit about the ancient Greeks and their gods.
• 

  sizemik

  sizemilk,

  the psychology today article ends rather abruptly They are discussing a case study, Audrey, and the page just ends. does this articles continue anywhere? I do not see a link to click on. I'd like to finish reading the case study.

  Unfortunately that's it. I've found the "Audrey" case study in it's original citing . . . but it is exactly the same. More like a "case in point" with a few quotes rather than a "study".

  But this article is really scary. I suspect some here may have read it (or something similar) . . . to validate their "spirituality"

  The Voice
• 

  ziddina

  Abraham lived with the Canaanites.

  There have been claims made that the Canaanites sacrificed their children to their gods. The bible made this claim, and ironically the Romans claimed that the Carthaginians [descendants of the Canaanites] sacrificed their children to the gods, too.

  Archaeologists discounted such claims for a very long time, until a recent dig in North Africa turned up evidence that the ancient commentators on the cruelty of the Canaanite religions may be true, after all.

  If Abraham actually WAS a Canaanite, as some have speculated, the story makes more sense.

  Abraham, when prompted to sacrifice his son to a Canaanite god, may have found a way to save his son by "having a vision" from a NEW 'god' who told him NOT to sacrifice his son.

  And in that way the lineage of Abraham may have split off from the Canaanites, and the child-sacrificing practices of the Canaanites were left behind in favor of a new 'god' of war.

  Zid
• 

  Fernando

  Personally I've never heard audible voices in my head. At the same time I have experienced a marked improvement in my mental health as I have replaced imposed religious thinking (my "cult self" or "cult identity") with organic spirituality which resonates with my "authentic self" or "authentic identity". I now identify as SBNR (Spiritual But Not Religious).

  From experience I believe that God and his enemy both "speak" to all of us all the time.

  Trauma it seems creates strongholds and channels for unhelpful thoughts to be introduced and acted upon.

  Personally I would trust orthodox Psychiatrists only for a diagnosis of Schizophrenia. Their reductionist one-dimensional bio-medical models of health and illness leave many addicted, chemically doped, restrained, stagnant, and without hope.

  Psychologists (talking medicine), and progressive Psychiatrists operate well outside the confines of the orthodox Psychiatric model. Names like Carl Jung, Stanislav Grof, George L Engel, Morgan Scott Peck, Peter Breggin, and Al Siebert come to mind.

  For a hope filled article on Schizophrenia: Beautiful Minds Can Be Recovered (Source 1, Source 2 )

  In relation to Abraham, religionists have deliberately hidden and obfuscated many dimensions of the Abrahamic Promise, which have great healing potential, for all that afflicts us humans. If so-called Christians, Jews and Muslims all saw, understood and embraced these dimensions the inane and hostile sectarian walls that that divide them would crumble. I speak from experience, and as one who identifies as a SBNR Christian, Jew and Muslim.