God’s Love: A Thread

[Lord Thesaurian]

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

These days if you’re like me, it seems like the darkness of the last days is all around us. I wanted to start this thread as a place of encouragement, where people can share Biblical testimony concerning the power of God’s love.

I recall when I was a kid, I got into a car accident on the way to school. A large truck had stopped in the middle of the highway, and had no brake lights or warning signs up. By the time I realized it, it was too late for me to stop. I crashed into the back of the truck going about 40 mph/65kph, and I was not wearing my seatbelt.

I remember in the last seconds before impact, I saw the wall of steel looming, and time seemed to slow to a halt. In that moment, somehow, I felt no fear or hesitation. I took my hands off the wheel, placed them in my lap, and surrendered myself completely to Divine Providence. As the world went dark in an instant, the last sensation I felt was a sense of warmth spreading over my whole body, and weightlessness, like I was being lifted up and away through the air. I felt an intense and indescribable love and comfort, like the feeling of going home and climbing into a warm bath after a long and terrible journey. It was similar to when your mother cradles you close as a baby, and all your cares melt away, but more profound. It was the only moment of true peace I can ever say I’ve felt before or since.

It was in that moment I awoke to the cruel world, torn away from sanctuary, in the driver’s seat of my car, by someone knocking on my window. In shock, I felt rage and despair, screaming incoherently at the person for taking me away from that place. The crash that crumpled my car like a soda can under your foot and should have killed me, instead left me almost completely uninjured, save a gash above my eye where my face hit the steering wheel. I’ve never felt anything like it before or since, but in the close calls I’ve had since, I can honestly say I did not feel intimidated by death.

55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

[Cope]

Pslam 23

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

⁵ Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Revelation 21

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

² And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

³ And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

⁴ And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

⁵ And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

⁶ And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

⁷ He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

It is common for people who come close to death to experience the peace of God. Thereafter the fear of death is greatly diminished.

[Akar]

The only miracle that happened here is the miracle of modern car safety design.

Next.

[Lord Thesaurian]

It is common for people who come close to death to experience the peace of God. Thereafter the fear of death is greatly diminished.

God’s love is so big, it makes everything else seem so small.



One of my favorites.

9 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?
10 And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:
12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave

[Gigantus]

Well, any mind capable of abstract thoughts needs an anchor for his unsolvable, existential questions. Like: why did I survive this massive accident even though I neglected basic safety precautions? It certainly is more comforting to think some magic did that rather then putting it down to dumb luck. Because being dependent on luck\probability alone scares the out of anyone. It does however answers the question why thousands of others did not survive in the same circumstances. And why people claim to be 'chosen by God', pretty conceited and insulting to those that died in the same circumstances, if you ask me.

So let's praise someone\something when things go right and blame someone\something when things go wrong. That has always been a great alternative to taking credit\responsibility. Deus io vult.

Just to make clear, this is not meant to be personally, I have used the example given by the OP to illustrate my view on the topic. I'll happily change it to a similar situation\circumstance if requested.

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

I remember that during my first car accident with 19, while a van was pushing the front engine of my Golf to the windscreen, that my blood was full with adrenaline, but no feeling of godly peace.

I also remember, that there was nothing, but absolute blackness, while i was unconscious because of drinking two longdrink glasses of Stroh 80 (80 % Alcohol) with a friend at the age of 15( i was drinking the glasses, he only doing so, but he had a night of horror because fearing my heart could stop beating, so still controlling my heart beat by laying his ear on my chest the whole night^^).

So i'm not afraid of death anymore, highlikely there will be nothing.

[basics]

The only miracle that happened here is the miracle of modern car safety design.

Next.

Akar,

You say that not knowing nor understanding the greatest ongoing miracle of all and that is the power of prayer which God always answers according to His will.

[Derc]

Every accident is a tragedy, and humanity has gone to great lengths to reduce risks. Because of that, at least in terms of accidents, humanity has mastered to unknot the mystery behind most of them. As pervert as it may sound, the dicision who survives and who dies, in this case, is simply called 'maths'.

Of course events like these then do a lot to a human. What happens in the spiritual sense is something else. But physics are physics.

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

I'm quite sure, the peaceful feeling is a biological mechanism to relax the body before the impact or prevent a shock.

[Gigantus]

I'm quite sure, the peaceful feeling is a biological mechanism to relax the body before the impact or prevent a shock.

Adrenalin burst to trigger fight\flight response. If there is no flight possible then the mind is totally prepared for the inevitable fight, which in this case is the impact. High levels of adrenalin do weird things to mind and body - ask any skydiver.

[Lord Thesaurian]

Adrenalin burst to trigger fight\flight response. If there is no flight possible then the mind is totally prepared for the inevitable fight, which in this case is the impact. High levels of adrenalin do weird things to mind and body - ask any skydiver.

There are many times in my life I was injured and could have died but didn’t. I’ve gone into fight or flight shock before. When I accidentally rolled an ATV onto myself as a kid and nearly died once before, I involuntarily threw the 600 lb/270kg vehicle off of myself and sent it rolling away end over end. I then lept to my feet, charged at my own grandfather, and punched him in the face, screaming obscenities and thumping my chest. I didn’t know what was happening until the adrenaline wore off and I collapsed. I came away with a broken collar bone as the worst of my injuries when I should have been crushed/broken my back or neck. Point is, this wasn’t that.

Sorry if the OP gives the wrong impression. I don’t mean to suggest I’m special because I survived a car wreck, or that I’ve empirically proven the existence of an afterlife. The Bible says the dead are dead and they know nothing, until the resurrection. I am sharing a time that I felt what I can only describe as God’s love very intensely, and I hope others can share their experiences and inspirations as well. This is one that has stuck with me longer and more profoundly than any other, and because of it, I can recognize His love in other experiences and areas of my life as well. It doesn’t need to be a life threatening experience.

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

[Gigantus]

The OP did not give the wrong impression - it clarified which approach you took when looking for a reason why you survived an incident that could have potentially have cost you your life. Same I tried to do with my initial post.

Either approach is fine where I am concerned if it fulfills the need of the individual for an anchor as I mentioned initially - belief in a super natural force was there when mankind became sentient, rational thinking came much later and has always been a source of friction with religions (institutional belief in a higher force) in general. Both approaches require radical, opposed views, religion is just better organized and therefore has been prevalent for a long time. I have no intention to discuss the rather sordid angle of how the prevalence was achieved, even today in some corners of the world, that would simply derail the thread.

Personally I can't reconcile my 'free will' outlook on life with a force that controls it regardless of my wishes and intent (that 'deus io vult' angle). Mathematical probabilities? Now that's something solid where I am concerned.
What I would appreciate is an arrangement where both approaches are acceptable instead of trying to convince that one way is better then the other, even to the extent of sermonizing.

That said: the one thing religion is good at is consoling if something goes really wrong - provided that you can wrap your head around that all of a sudden it's acceptable that the super natural force drops the ball, too, like any human being. Or you shift the blame onto yet another super natural force. So yeah, let me stick with my view and choose whichever view you prefer.

[Lord Thesaurian]

The point isn’t to “prove” religion nor argue there was a special reason I didn’t die, though, so perhaps the OP did give the wrong impression if you’re still on that track. I hope I was able to clarify.

[Septentrionalis]

I recall when I was a kid, I got into a car accident on the way to school.

[snip]

I crashed into the back of the truck going about 40 mph/65kph, and I was not wearing my seatbelt.

[snip]

in the driver’s seat of my car

[snip]

left me almost completely uninjured, save a gash above my eye where my face hit the steering wheel.

I really do not want to be the kind of person who ridicules a fellow man for sharing their spiritual experiences, and I have come to know Thesaurian as a reliable member. Some things about the OP raise some questions, though. A kid driving to school in his car is the first one, coming from a country with a legal driving age of 18, but I guess someone from US could say that if it happened after the freshman year of highschool. Also, survival crashing into a stationary obstacle at 40 mph is not a given even if wearing a seatbelt, let alone without one and only suffering a gash. I hope that this thread was not started as a way to shake things up a little.

The experience itself is the kind that I have heard IRL as well, but in a case in which the kid behind the wheel was actually dead for a while until resuscitated, and did not escape serious, life-long injuries. Thesaurian describes his experience in identical terms in many ways as the person I know.

[Gigantus]

'Proving' wasn't really on my mind, rather that the religious approach on dealing with an outcome is not the only approach. Which, when rereading your OP, might indeed not have been what you intended. Rather the 'comfort in the end days' provided by belief I presume, going by the bible quotes? If that was the case then I am glad I got some of it with my final paragraph.

[Lord Thesaurian]

I really do not want to be the kind of person who ridicules a fellow man for sharing their spiritual experiences, and I have come to know Thesaurian as a reliable member. Some things about the OP raise some questions, though. A kid driving to school in his car is the first one, coming from a country with a legal driving age of 18, but I guess someone from US could say that if it happened after the freshman year of highschool. Also, survival crashing into a stationary obstacle at 40 mph is not a given even if wearing a seatbelt, let alone without one and only suffering a gash. I hope that this thread was not started as a way to shake things up a little.

The experience itself is the kind that I have heard IRL as well, but in a case in which the kid behind the wheel was actually dead for a while until resuscitated, and did not escape serious, life-long injuries. Thesaurian describes his experience in identical terms in many ways as the person I know.

Hi Sept. I went to driving school and got a permit to drive to and from school. States have different minimum ages for that, 14-16. Hope that clears the confusion. You are absolutely right it was very unlikely for me to have survived, much less come away with a minor injury. I’ve had similar close calls in my life, but that was the closest. The experience led me to become more detached from material concerns and less fearful of uncertainties in life, and yet more passionate about ideas in some ways, because what I felt in that moment has stayed with me as a vivd memory. I hope others can know what I know.

2 And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
3 The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.
4 I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

[Gigantus]

Nearly ending up in a propeller during skydiving (because being young, feeling immortal and ultimately being reckless) did the job for me. Certainly a formative experience, thankfully for the better (I think).

[Sir Adrian]

God's love for the worst sinner is greater than the love of all the saints to have ever lived. It's never to late for anyone to seek repentance, as long as it is genuine.

[Cope]

The only miracle that happened here is the miracle of modern car safety design.

Next.

Mirakarle*

[Septentrionalis]

Hi Sept. I went to driving school and got a permit to drive to and from school. States have different minimum ages for that, 14-16. Hope that clears the confusion. You are absolutely right it was very unlikely for me to have survived, much less come away with a minor injury. I’ve had similar close calls in my life, but that was the closest. The experience led me to become more detached from material concerns and less fearful of uncertainties in life, and yet more passionate about ideas in some ways, because what I felt in that moment has stayed with me as a vivd memory. I hope others can know what I know.

Thank you for the confirmation that you were serious. In the case I mentioned, the person felt as having spent a very long time in the afterlife, long enough to get cozy, and being very upset at first about having to go back although he had been dead for only minutes in our world. He turned from a reckless gangbanger type into a saint of sorts, saying that "once you get to feel the the boundless power and compassion of God in the afterlife, you will never want to do another evil thing again". Also, he makes the point that he is not afraid to die anymore, but instead looking forward to it without feeling the need to expedite matters. Perhaps surprisingly to Christians, neither you nor him made any reference to Jesus. I never inquired about that, though. Interesting stuff indeed, be it adrenaline or something else entirely.